


Are We Dead Now?

by Darling_No



Category: Ao no Exorcist | Blue Exorcist
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, Badass, Bisexual Okumura Rin, Character Death, Dead People, Depressed Okumura Rin, Help, How Do I Tag, Hurt Okumura Rin, I'm Bad At Tagging, I'm Sorry, Loss of Parent(s), Multi, Orphans, Poor Okumura Rin, Relationship(s), Sad, Sarcasm, Serious Injuries, Swearing, Swords, There's A Tag For That, Undead, Weapons, What Have I Done, Zombies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-02
Updated: 2019-08-02
Packaged: 2020-07-29 17:28:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 24
Words: 34,445
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20086000
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Darling_No/pseuds/Darling_No
Summary: Rin wasn't one to discard any kind of strange happenings. Until the Zombies. The zombies were pushing it, but his zombified father eating one of the clergymen that had helped raise him and his brother was not just a nightmare. So he'd up and left with his twin and a few people who had found themselves in the same situation. Now though, now he was all alone. With his brother long turned, Rin wanders the small country of Japan, hoping to find a way out.Blue Exorcist Zombie AU with some Spicy twists.





	1. One

**Author's Note:**

> I actually got the inspiration for this fic from playing Black Ops II Zombies with my brother. I like some of the songs for a few of the maps and drew inspiration from those as well. Enjoy and tell me what you think!

Rin trudged through the wreckage on the street, ignoring the crusted blood covering his clothes.

He'd long since given up on caring what he was wearing or what was on his clothes. Ten months in this hellish version of the world he grew up in and he'd lost everything. Actually, he'd lost everything in the first four.

Rin wasn't one to discard any kind of strange happenings. Until the Zombies. The zombies were pushing it, but his zombified father eating one of the clergymen that had helped raise him and his brother was not just a nightmare.

So he'd up and left with his twin and a few people who had found themselves in the same situation. Now though, now he was all alone.

He had no idea if anyone from his original group had survived and his brother was long turned. Oh how he missed his twin. Rin and Yukio had been the best team there was. They worked perfectly together and always knew what the other was thinking. In the regular world, they argued. Argued over little things, like how Rin getting a tongue piercing was 'unprofessional' and 'unless he was going to become a tattoo artist, people wouldn't hire him.' But after the world died and turned upside down, they'd worked amazing together.

But alas, all good things must come to an end. They'd been on a food run–searching places for canned goods to store–and a mob came out of nowhere. Rin and Yukio were with a girl older than them by a couple years. She was seriously hardcore. It seemed like she was born just to survive in the apocalypse instead of the world before. She'd protected and saved countless survivors and she'd even taught them how to survive. By now, they were very skilled at dodging and running away.

But Yukio insisted on wearing his stupid white doctor's coat. "_Just in case refugees are injured and they're scared."_ He'd always said. _"People trust doctors." _

The zombies weren't your stereotypical green skinned guys with their arms stretched out in front of them all the time. They were rotting corpses missing patches of purple-yellowish skin with tatters of clothes hanging off of them. Some had bones sticking out of the skin at unnatural angles, others still had hair clinging to their heads. Their eyes were blank and had a white film over them. Some had an entire mouth full of teeth and others had none. Most were very fidgety and grabbed at random times.

One grabbed at the perfect moment and caught Yukio's coat. When it realized it had a prize, it pulled him back. The other zombies latched on. Rin grabbed his twin's hands. Yukio looked terrified and clutched desperately onto his brother. The woman–her name was Rocco– tried to fight them off, but she couldn't get to Yukio through the mass of hands grabbing him. He couldn't slip his arms out of the sleeves due to the rotting, bony hands clamping down on his limbs either.

Yukio screamed as the monsters bit into his neck and shoulders, his arms. Rin yelled, blood sprayed everywhere, and shrieks echoed off of empty buildings. Rocco grabbed Rin's vest and pulled him back, away from the mob and his still screaming brother. "No! Rocco, please! We have to get Yukio! We have to save him!" Rin thrashed in her hold. "No! Rin, go! Run!" Yukio managed to yell. Rocco pulled Rin back and they began to run. Rin barely registered anything except for the fact that he was covered in his brother's blood. The rest of that day was a blur in Rin's mind now.

He looked around. Nothing in sight. They must all be wandering inside the buildings. He should be safe to go. He knew from experience that it didn't matter whether it was day or night. It didn't matter the temperature. They liked to roam around inside the tall buildings in groups, much like highschool. The resemblance was almost laughable.

Rin jogged across the street to the small corner store. It's windows hadn't been shattered, miraculously. He made his way through the aisles. This place must also have a small office Rin could stay in. Usually, the personal manager offices had carpet floors or a couch. Rin gave a short whistle once he got in. No response. He whistled again, louder. Still no response. It was safe. He moved into the office. There was blood splatter on the desk and corner, but on the side of the room with a couch, it was relatively clean. He closed the door and laid down on the couch.

Sleep was a luxury and he wouldn't waste any that he could get.


	2. Two

Rin woke up to silence.

It was more pleasant than the last two times he tried to sleep. He'd usually be woken up by zombies intruding through a window or lurking outside his current shelter's doorway.

But there weren't any Zombies to make him their morning meal this time. In fact, there weren't any Zombies outside at all when Rin exited the store. Strange. Usually, there were at least a few roaming around.

Come to think of it, the monsters had been acting weird lately. Every time Rin traveled West, he ran into them, because they were moving in the same direction he was. But any other direction, they were nowhere to be seen. Almost as if they were migrating, like birds.

Rin sighed. He didn't used to be the suspicious and analytical one. He was the delinquent with no friends and too many emotions. _Yukio_ was the genius who was aiming to be a doctor, but was still always suspicious until motives were confirmed to be good or bad. He thought before he acted. Rin was fists first, ask questions later.

Now it felt more like Rin had adopted both his and his twin's habits and combined them. In his original surviving group, he and Rocco had been the best at hand-to-hand combat and strategy on how to disable the zombies quickly out of the six of them. Yukio was the strategist and the one who planned missions for food and supplies. But not long after Yukio was lost, they'd split up due to a mob of zombies breaking down the camp they'd set up. Rin didn't know if anyone else was even alive. It was best to assume they were dead and move on.

For the better part of a year, Rin had been surviving alone. It probably hadn't been the best for his mental health or his emotional health seeing as he was people oriented. He loved to talk and socialize. Which was pretty fucked up, seeing as he had no friends until the zombie apocalypse started. And even then, he'd lost _those_ in a short amount of time. "Just can't keep a buddy, huh?" He muttered to himself.

Difference was, now he didn't even have any stray cats or dogs to talk to. He didn't know whether they hid all day or were zombified. He hadn't seen a single stray for the entirety of the time zombies had been active. But if he ever did and they were perfectly normal, they'd be his dinner. Meat had been an important part of his diet when there _was_ meat to eat. Being a vegetarian and relying on canned beans for protein had taken a toll on him. He'd had to get used to it, even train his body to work with those foods as fuel.

Rin was pulled out of his thoughts when he heard glass breaking. He froze and turned around, hand on the hilt of his sword. The sword was a katana that had been in the basement of Rin's old house. He hadn't even known they _had_ a basement, but when he found it, they looted it for all it was worth. Yukio had picked up some handguns on a departed cop. The police were their main source of weaponry and restraints. They'd also found a hospital that hadn't been looted yet in the early days of the apocalypse.

They'd been stocked to survive. Yet they still didn't last even half a year.

As Rin approached, he heard shuffling and grunting. Telltale signs of the undead. He crept silently towards the small building. It looked to be an old convenience store. He thought of ignoring it, but he spotted some cans on the floor inside that looked to be dented, but not opened. He huffed. Of course he was desperate enough for a few cans on the ground right next to some zombies. But he hadn't eaten in a day and a half. He needed food or he'd pass out soon. He had no idea how he could even move after missing that many meals, but he didn't question it either.

So he drew his sword quietly as he approached the store. He patted his thigh, just to make sure his knife was still there, then patted the side of his backpack to make sure he hadn't lost his ax.

Three skinny critters, all shorter than him. The smaller ones were always quicker and ducked under your guard if you weren't careful.

Rin approached silently and whistled, sword poised. As soon as they turned around, he lunged with a quick swipe of his sword. Three top halves fell to the ground with a squish and crack of rotting bones. As soon as they moved again, he cut off their heads.

He used their rags for clothes to clean the blood and slime off his sword and sheathed it again, claiming his cans in a small victory. He was about to leave when he saw a flash at the cashier station. He glanced over and froze.

Were those......were those.... Milky Candies?

He tentatively reached a hand out and grabbed a pack, just to make sure they were real. Then he stuffed the rest into his bag.

He left the small place and continued on his way. He figured he should be getting farther away from the mobs since he was going East. Going East to the edge of Tokyo, then sailing to another country so he wasn't trapped on this tiny island was the best plan he could come up with, even if the world had fallen to the Pink Flu and there was no where else to live peacefully.

He hiked down the road. He'd left Tokyo behind a long time ago. Rin stopped and sat down on an old piece of concrete. He took out the old, fading map of Japan and examined it. If he was heading east, then he should be in Nagoya. The best option was to just keep heading East until he found the docks, where, hopefully, there would be a functioning boat for him to escape on.

He put the map away and kept walking. Soon after that, Rin found a highway crowded with cars and cursed. The last thing he needed was a bunch of Zombies popping up to eat him from old cars or big trucks. Rin looked at the sun that was slowly starting its descent. He came up with a solution quick and hoped he wouldn't still be on this highway when dark fell, but chances of that were low.

Rin climbed on top of the cars and walked across them. Since they were pretty much bumper to bumper, it was easy. He avoided particularly rusty spots, but some he just couldn't avoid. Rin thought he was doing great until he realized that the sky was turning purple and his flashlight had died long ago, along with his phone and any other electronics that weren't solar powered. Even with his improved vision at night that he'd gained over the course of this last year, that wasn't good. His Night Vision wasn't that good.

Because of that and because he needed to get out of the city as fast as possible, he decided to screw caution and go faster. Of course, nothing can ever be _that_ easy in the apocalypse, can it?

He stepped on the top of a truck's cab and the rust groaned, weaker than expected because it was only a small patch.

Well, that _small patch_ was Rin's downfall.

Literally.

As soon as he stepped on it, his right leg went straight through the roof of the cab.

Rin felt the metal rip into his skin all the way down his leg and did his best not to scream. He could've easily pulled himself out, but there was one long piece of metal that was lodged in his thigh. He'd rip his muscles if he moved the wrong way and then he'd be crippled more than he was already. He sat there and took deep breaths, calming his nerves and getting used to the pain for a minute.

"Alright. Okay. I'll be fine. I just need to get that out." He told himself. He went through his inventory mentally. He had no alcohol. He did have Motrin 800, but it was his last one. He had no thread or anything to substitute for thread and he didn't have a sewing needle either, so no stitches. He _did_ have a tongue piercing, but that had nothing to hold the thread in place even if he _did_ have any.

All things considered, the best he could do was take a Motrin, pull the metal out, clean it with water, and wrap it with gauze and medical tape–a very small amount of which he had left. He was pretty much low or completely out if anything useful to him except canned beans. Always the damn beans. But he refused to die like this so he sighed and tried to make a decent plan that wouldn't end in him becoming a midnight snack.

But first, he had to get off of this truck. Rin took the Motrin, then reached around to unsheathe his sword. He'd have to saw the piece of metal off the truck. He started sawing, cringing at the screeching of metal on metal. Once he was free, he'd have to get out of there fast before dressing the wound.

He heard grunting and shuffling from under him and he sawed faster. As soon as the metal snapped off, he pulled his leg back and slammed his boot into the zombie's skull, ignoring the prickles of pain throughout his leg.

Rin pulled himself up and slid down the side. He wouldn't be able to hop across the tops of cars without trouble anymore. He limped as far away from the cars as he could. But, he only made it three quarters of the way across the highway in total. From that truck, he'd only made it thirty feet. He'd been limping slowly and it wasn't even that far and he was sweating, pain making him dizzy.

He stopped at a minivan, leaning against it and retching up the canned beans he'd eaten earlier. When he was done, he examined the van he was leaning against. The back windows were cracked, but not broken. He climbed in with great effort and settled down in a seat, laying it back by pulling the lever on the side of the seat. He stretched his leg out and looked at the damage. Multiple areas had skin torn off, but only two were bleeding heavily. He ripped the pants more so he could get to the metal sticking out of his leg.

Rin counted to three and pulled it out quick. Blood flooded out of the gash and he hissed at the sting of air against the feverish skin. He pressed the metal ball in his tongue to the top of his mouth to distract himself from the pain. He hadn't been injured like this in a long time. And out of all the times he been injured, it had never been this bad. He might have thrown up again if he had anything left to come up.

He poured water into the wound to clean it out. There was a small shard still digging into his leg inside the gash and he really wished he'd been smarter.

He dug two fingers into the wound and pinched the piece of metal. He pulled it out and sat there for a minute, trying to keep from passing out or throwing up again. After the vertigo passed, he dressed the wound as best he could and finally put everything back in his pack.

He really wished he'd kept that Tequila they'd found in the second month. He could really use a swig at the moment.

For now, he laid down, making sure his leg was elevated so it wouldn't swell too much, and let himself pass out from the pain still emanating from his right leg.


	3. Three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If I had a piece of metal in my leg, I'd probably be a dumbass and scream "son of a BITCH" and then the zombies would hear me and I'd get eaten. 😂😂😂 Enjoy you guys.

Suguro climbed up to the roof of the temple with effort, wondering how his Dad did it so fast.

He looked out over the trees, examining the other half of the Inn.

The half his father died in.

There were only a handful of them left now. Most of them had given up on praying to Buddha by now, but some still feebly clung to the hope that Buddha would save them.

Suguro didn't know how they could believe that. Especially after all this. They'd all seen their loved ones killed and eaten alive by these monsters.

Some of the followers believed it was Buddha punishing them for something they must have done wrong.

But why would Buddha punish an entire city? Suguro had gone out on supply runs multiple times. Kyoto was filled with corpses walking around, waiting for food to arrive.

They didn't seem particularly hungry. But when there was a live person in front of them, they ate it. Suguro didn't understand.

He didn't understand how this was possible.

As for the most recent supply runs, those were strange. The city was eerily quiet. Like the zombies left.

But where did they go? What is their motive? Are they walking around just to walk around? Are they smarter than they show? Are they being controlled by something?

Suguro wanted answers. And the only way to get that was to go farther into the city. But they needed to regroup and get their shit together first.

Suguro had already been watching to see who was the best for the mission. Since his father was dead, and so were the other two who would've taken his place, he'd taken it upon himself to be the leader, even if he was leading people older than him.

Mamushi–the oldest daughter of the Hojo clan–was fast and agile, like a snake, the very tattoo her family had adorned their faces with. She was good with disabling the zombies with just her hands.

Juzo, the oldest son of the Shimas', good with his K'rik and decent with knives. He was also married to Mamushi, so he would've gone anyways. It was a package deal.

Konekomeru was too weak to really fight, but he was good at strategy and usually watched Juzo and Mamushi's kid while they were gone.

Kinzo and Renzo were both too immature. Kinzo would run in without thinking and get himself killed. He was a real pigheaded idiot.

Renzo was a pervert who was lazy, so he wouldn't help at all because he lacked courage and motivation.

Jun, the oldest woman in the Shima clan besides her mother, had two kids, but all the children just seemed to like Konekomeru, so he was basically their strategist along with their babysitter.

Jun was sweet and a wonderful woman, but man could she be vicious. She showed a fierceness that even her husband couldn't match. She was good with slingshots, guns, and anything that enabled her to bash the zombies with.

Her husband, Rukuske, was a gentle man who wasn't much for fighting, so he mainly helped with making meals large enough for everyone. He was also an exceptional doctor, considering his skills in delivering Mamushi and Juzo's daughter months ago.

So, they were kind of screwed. Suguro didn't know if the zombies had just moved to the other side of the city or if they were really gone for good.

He sighed, climbing down. So little information might just be their downfall.

"Mom, how are we on food? And what about supplies for Sachi?" He asked, meeting her in the hallway. "We have enough food to last everybody another month if we eat the right portions. I think we're running low on diapers to change Sachi into and her clothes are almost all dirty. It takes a long time to wash and dry things, you know, but she only has about five outfits to begin with, so." Torako answered.

Suguro nodded. They also needed more medical tape and alcohol, along with painkillers and antibiotics. There was some kind of bacteria in the air and the kids were getting sick. Luckily, the antibiotics worked and helped to get rid of whatever it was, but the progress was very slow, so they were running low on those, especially having four kids, a baby included.

Suguro went to find his selected crew.

§~•~§~•~§

"So you want us to come with you to the city for a supply run, but farther into the city to see where those things went? Sounds dangerous." Jun fretted. She may be a great fighter, but first and foremost, she was a mother.

"We need answers. We can't stay here forever." Juzo pointed out. "Our supplies will eventually run out. It's best not to wait until that happens." Mamushi agreed.

"Yes, you're right. And we need a better place to raise the children as well. What do you have in mind? Is there a different city we should move to?" Jun looked at him in concern.

"I can't really tell if any other cities are affected like this, but if they are, we need to get out of Japan and to a safer place. But I don't know if the zombies went East or West, so I don't have much information to go off of." Suguro ran his hand through his hair.

He used to style it every day, but now it just lay in a messy heap of brunette and blonde on his head, usually tangled.

"So we need to scout things out and see what's going on? How far should we go?" Juzo wondered.

"The first group of zombies we see, we'll come back. But if there's a straggler or two, we'll keep going." Suguro decided. That seemed to be their best option.

"If we don't get very far this first time, should we go and scout every few days to see the progress?" Mamushi mused.

Suguro thought. "That's a good idea. Good job, Mamushi."

They decided to leave in two days.

§~•~§~•~§

The nice thing about cities was that people didn't really drive all that much. They just walked around and enjoyed the sights and food there. As a result, there were almost no cars on the road to block their way.

As they moved, they picked up things they needed. Medicine and first aid stuff from the pharmacy that wasn't completely looted, some baby clothes for Sachi, along with baby food that miraculously was still okay to eat. Some diapers and rash medicine just in case. On their way back, they'd get anything they missed, but for now, they kept scouting.

They only got about a quarter across the city before finding a few groups of zombies, all shuffling in the same direction-West.

_Interesting....._

The group retreated for the moment, but they would go back out in a few days to check progress.

For now, they needed to focus on surviving.


	4. Four

Rin was successful in getting across the highway.

It just took him two extra days because of all the cars and how bad his leg was.

It didn't swell too much, so he got lucky there. He hadn't gotten blood poisoning and there were no signs of Tetnis. Yet.

But the skin around the cut areas was turning an ugly yellowish-purple. All he could do was wash it, pull the dead skin off, and then re-wrap it.

"This is how I die. With a crippled leg and candy." He muttered to himself, popping another sweet treat in his mouth and relishing in the click sound it made when it collided with his piercing. He hobbled as fast as he could without falling over or throwing up from the intense pain.

§~•~§~•~§

"I really miss having meat." He sighed to himself later that night as he ate flavorless beans out of a can. Oh how he loathed canned beans. He missed cooking, too. He used to make all kinds of foods, from Japanese food to Western food. Oh what he wouldn't do to be able to make Fried Chicken or Sukiyaki again!

He remembered learning to bake at one point too, when he was young.

There used to be this old man who owned a bakery down the street. He used to give Rin treats for free after the bakery closed and there were still goods left. He had a granddaughter Rin's age. She was half American-half Japanese. The other kids made fun of her for it, but Rin never cared. He'd never known his dad, but he'd overheard Shiro mention that their dad was a Russian soldier and he'd mentioned another time that their mom was a Japanese flower shop manager.

So he knew the girl probably felt out of place. Of course, no one ever knew the twins were half-Russian, they just didn't like the two boys and decided to taunt them relentlessly until Rin beat crap out of them.

The girl used to let Rin into the back of the store, where they made all the desserts. She'd given him some recipes after her grandfather died and she had to move back to Hawaii with her dad.

Actually.....

Hawaii sounded great right about now. Rin wondered if he could make it that far.....

He decided that if he could make it to a boat and get the boat to work, he'd sail to Hawaii and live there. If that didn't work, then just go to other islands. Maybe he'd even go to America. There was plenty of space to run in that country.

Hopefully zombies couldn't swim.

§~•~§~•~§

He woke up when it was still dark out. Not what he wanted. But when he finally realized why he'd woken up, he got up as silently as he could. His leg protested greatly at such rushed movement and he may have accidentally bitten his tongue, which hurt his piercing, but he didn't have time to think about that. He was nearly surrounded by zombies.

If he could just make it through the small open side that they weren't on, he could maybe take them all down or at least disable them long enough to get away.

He pulled out his katana and dagger. He only ever used the ax for the really big zombies. As the corpses got closer, he checked behind him. Still clear.

The first corpse stumbled within range and he sliced through it's rotting skin and brittle bones easily, lopping off it's head. Another three came in from his left as one came from the right. He cursed, stepping to the right and putting the knife through the zombie's head as he swung the katana to slice through the three zombies on the left.

After that, he had to back up and properly cut their heads off before staggering forward to get rid of the rest of the zombies. There were too many to be vulnerable, so he focused on the zombies and stood upright so he had proper balance to fight.

His instincts kicked in and he was slaying them all while moving light on his feet. '_Like a leaf in the win_d.' Rocco had once told him.

×××××××××

** _"Remember, these are not regular humans. They're corpses who eat whatever living thing they see." Rocco walked around him in a slow circle._ **

** _"I know." Rin rolled his eyes underneath the blindfold. _ **

** _"So, they move differently. They don't walk, they shuffle. Their bones are weak and rotting, just like their muscles. They have no objective but to eat whatever is in front of them. So, if you learn how to fight a human, then you'll easily be able to take them down without any weapons." She explained._ **

** _"Pffft, I've fought three guys at one time before. I'm pretty sure I don't need this training." Rin snorted._ **

** _With quick movements, Rocco jabbed his throat while kneeing him in the stomach. He collapsed to his knees before she kicked him over so he was on the ground._ **

** _"If you didn't see that coming after being such a smart ass, you're gonna die first. Get on your feet and take stance." She ordered. She sounded like a drill sergeant._ **

** _Rin groaned from the ground. _ **

** _"Oh, stop _ ** ** _bein_ ** ** _' a pussy! What happened to taking on three guys at one time? Get up." _ **

** _He did what he was told and got to his feet._ **

** _"Good. Now, we're gonna practice the basics."_ **

×××××××××

Rin came back to the present, realizing he was still in the middle of the road. He sighed, wishing he still had his friends, but quickly pushed that out of his mind. They were probably all dead. No point in wishing for impossible things.

So he limped to the sidewalk, scanning the area for any store that wasn't looted. He found a small pharmacy. It probably didn't have anything useful to him, but it was worth checking out. He needed his leg to heal fast because it was slowing him down way too much. Not to mention the cuts kept opening back up and bleeding.

Rin really needed to clean the wounds out properly and hopefully find something to use as stitches. Yukio had taught Rin a little about first aid. He'd told Rin that with all the toxicity in the air due to the decay of everything around them, it wasn't good to leave wounds and cuts open. They'd get infected and the the person would be incapacitated and probably die.

Rin knew how to do stitches himself even without pain medicine. He'd always been out on the streets, so he'd taken to caring for himself so Yukio didn't have to worry and could focus on training to be a doctor.

Rin growled at his situation. He'd walk just a couple more miles, then he'd have to stop.

§~•~§~•~§

_It couldn't feel much. Its shoulders hurt. Its entire body hurt. It wanted to give up, but something was keeping it from doing that. A memory. A creature with tan flesh in a memory it couldn't make out._

_Why couldn't it just end? Where was it? This place was familiar. There were others like it, all around. Yellowish flesh. Rotting bones. But it was different from them. It was different. It was __**better**__ then them._ _It was stronger than them. It could __**think,**__ unlike them._

_It would find_ _its way to that memory. Then it would rest._


	5. Five

Suguro cursed as he jumped back, narrowly avoiding a rotting arm that swung out to hit him. He really wished he could just use his bazooka, but that would make noise and attract more of these monsters.

They were almost halfway through the city now. It was their fifth mission. It had been almost a month since they'd started these missions. They'd kept from losing any more people from the temple.

"Hey, Bon! Use this!" Jun threw a metal pole at him. He caught it and batted away the zombies nearest to him. Then he spun the pole around like a staff and stabbed three of the monsters. It went through them like an undead shish-kebob. It was almost surprising to him that he could lift them and slam them into the side of a mail-truck. Then he remembered that they literally had no meat on their bones.

"Woah! Good hit, Suguro-sama!" Juzo cheered, kicking one into another behind it. He'd foregone the traditional robes and taken to just wearing regular clothes.

A few stragglers had surprised them, but they were almost finished, so it wasn't a big deal. Mamushi landed a swift roundhouse kick, followed by a mean left hook and knocked one's head clean off it's shoulders by pure force alone. Man, Suguro was glad she was with them.

Jun jumped on top of a car and jumped down, crushing one completely and making it look like a very real Halloween decoration. She cringed when she took her foot out of it's skull covered in goo, though.

"Should we go back now?" Mamushi asked. The teen shook his head. "Not yet. We need to find more clothes. Wearing old ones while we have scrapes and cuts will kill us by infection." He answered.

They only found a few pieces of clothing, but it was better than nothing. They'd retreat for now. So far, the young heir had been right in the fact that the zombies seemed to be traveling West.

He had a feeling there was something much bigger than the Zombie Apocalypse going on.....

§~•~§~•~§

The skin around the one deep wound in Rin's thigh had begun to turn red around the edges and for the thousandth time, he cursed his luck. It was infected. He'd been sweating so much that he'd taken off his jacket and tied it around his waist. That, along with having to stop walking and crouch because of dizziness definitely confirmed it. Luckily, it hadn't spread yet, but two other deep cuts were also starting to turn red around the edges.

He hadn't seen a pharmacy in a while, but that was because he'd made it out of Nagoya last week. The cuts had been fine, healing very slowly, but then he'd had to fight a few stragglers and had pulled the wounds back open. Now, they were infected.

Rin didn't know how far he'd be able to make it before he lost the use of his leg and the infection spread across his body. He was travelling in wilderness now. He'd forgone the highway bridge to the next city over after the last incident. He was pretty sure the next city over would be Kyoto, but it was much farther from Nagoya than Tokyo to Nagoya.

Rin had a long way to go and he was really suffering now. He was thankful for the piercing he'd decided to keep in. He could distract himself by clicking it in his mouth and making little tunes. Rin would probably be over halfway to Kyoto if it weren't for his damned leg at this point!

Well, at least if he found any wildlife, he'd have meat before he died.

§~•~§~•~§

Rin figured smoke from a fire shouldn't attract any zombies. He was far enough in for it to blend in with the smog already in the air.

He'd found a wild cherry patch and a Mulberry tree. He also knew that you could get bark from inside a tree and chew on it for nutrients. But it depended on the tree whether the flavor was good or not. So, he did the best he could with what he had. He cooked a small can of beans, mixed some cherry juice in it to give it some flavor, and then added in some tree bark to add substance. And if he got _really_ desperate, he'd eat grass. Because it really didn't taste bad compared to what he'd been having. And if he could find some rare onion grass, he could have flavor.

God, how did things get so bad? A month ago, he was in great health and strong as he could be. Now, he was sitting on a fallen tree cooking beans, berries, and tree bark in a can out in the wilderness!

He hated his life so much in this moment.

But! There was still hope. If he could find a stream, he'd use the can he was eating out of now. He'd wash it out, then he'd fill it and boil the bacteria out of the water. After he cut off the dead skin, he'd clean it out with the water and cauterize the wounds with his sword.

It was his best shot.

He finished his dinner and laid down to sleep in his bed of leaves.

He'd find water tomorrow.

§~•~§~•~§

Suguro felt like something was coming. Something big. He was on edge. His mother kept asking him what was wrong, but he didn't exactly know what was wrong either, so what was he supposed to tell her?

_"Hey, I feel like something is going to happen, but I have no idea what or when it is and it's most likely just me being paranoid."_

Hell no! He'd sound crazy. He didn't want his mother to worry any more than she already was.

He would keep to himself until he knew for sure what was happening.

§~•~§~•~§

_It wanted to escape. It wanted to find that memory. That being. The one with tan flesh._

_It couldn't get past this thing. It kept it from going farther. It made it stay and roam with the others. It didn't want to be with the others. _

_It wanted to find the creature with tan flesh and remember._

_It would find a way out._


	6. Six

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Who do y'all think is chilling at the end of these past few chapters? Props to whoever gets it right, but you'll have to wait a while to see if you're correct on who it is, because I won't confirm it. That'll spoil it. ;)

He searched for water. A river. At least maybe a stream. He couldn't even find water drops on leaves from morning dew. Did it not rain anymore either?

He was getting desperate. He hadn't found any the day before and his food reserves were running low, even the candy. He was looking out for animals as well as water.

Things just kept going from bad to worse. He needed to take care of his leg before the infection got deeper. It was only on the top layers of the skin right now. He didn't know how he could tell, he just could. Just like he could tell his fever was getting worse. It must be around at least 102° now.

At least he hadn't started throwing up. Losing his food when there wasn't much in his stomach in the first place would be the end for him. He was low on energy already.

Rin stumbled and almost fell. He looked down at what he'd stumbled over. It was a log. But that wasn't what caught his attention. It was the bugs on the log. Bugs drank water too right? There must be water somewhere nearby!

As he followed the rotting logs as signs, he started seeing spiderwebs. Some had dewdrops on them and the more he moved in that direction, the more dewdrops covered the webs.

He was too excited to think about his fever now. He ran.

He ran so fast he almost missed the stream.

_Yes!_

_Water!_

He took the can out, almost dropping it, and dipped it in the small stream. It filled quickly and he grinned. He'd made sure to use the biggest can he had. It was a decent size. Kind of like a mini-bucket, so he should be fine. Then he filled another one with it to drink.

As he got up, he froze at movement out of the corner if his eye. He looked up slowly. Across the stream, there was a squirrel climbing up a tree.

_Holy shit._

He shook himself from the trance. He'd go hunting tomorrow. For now, he _had_ to take care of his leg.

He went back to his little camp.

§~•~§~•~§

Suguro was about to tell Juzo about the weird feeling he'd been having when someone screamed. He froze, listened, and heard more screaming into the silence.

He bolted, running as fast as he could in the direction he heard them come from and realized he knew exactly where they were from.

His second realization was much, much worse. _The other members of the temple._

They must have turned into zombies since their bodies weren't properly disposed of. He cursed, ripping through a paper door and barreling straight into the corpse of Yaozo Shima.

§~•~§~•~§

Rin sat himself up against a tree. The water for his leg was boiled now. He took the can in his hand, not really feeling the metal burn him through the ragged fingerless gloves, and took it over to his leg. He had to do it while the water was hot. It would clean the best. He'd also washed a small hankerchief in the stream and left it to dry over the fire.

Slowly, ever so slowly, he tipped the can over above the worst wound biting his tongue in anticipation to keep from screaming too loud.

§~•~§~•~§

Suguro didn't have time to think. He planted his fist in Uwabami Hojo's head.

Quite literally, actually.

His fist not only went into the zombie's head, it went straight _through_ the zombie's head. He cringed at the goo and blood on his hand, but ignored it in favor of grabbing a bamboo pole from the frame of a paper wall. He tore the paper off and stabbed at the remaining zombies. The others were behind him, led by his mother.

"Suguro, I'm taking them to the Ryokan!" She called. He nodded, not sure if she even saw him, and kept fighting. For a moment, he thought he was alone, but Juzo and Jun had stayed behind as well. Mamushi must have been with Sachi.

They ended up in a line across the hallway, not letting any of the monsters past them.

§~•~§~•~§

Rin tried not to scream anymore as he cut the red skin off with the knife. The infection hadn't gotten very deep, so he didn't lose any huge chunks of his leg. He wished he had someone here to help him with this. It was easier when they surprised you and got it over with fast. _"Like ripping off a band-aid."_ His dad used to say.

Man he wished all he had to do now was rip off a band-aid.

He had cleaned the wounds with the hankercheief and was cutting off the infected skin.

He put the knife down when he was finally done. He cleaned it off, then set the tip over the fire.

He waited a while, forcing himself to take deep breaths even though he'd already done it to avoid letting his nerves psyche him out.

He took the knife in his hand and pressed the burning hot tip on the wound. He gritted his teeth, groaning low in his throat as his skin sizzled. He pulled the knife away and did it with the other gashes.

§~•~§~•~§

One false step. That was all it took.

Suguro stabbed one and then bashed it's head in, not aware of the zombie stumbling up to him from the side.

"Suguro-sama! Watch out!" Juzo yelled frantically, trying to fight off three at once. Jun wasn't doing much better.

He cried out as he felt rough nails peirce and drag across his side. He crouched instinctively, making the thing trip over him and fall. Another zombie came and scratched his back as well. Juzo quickly dispatched them both with a swipe of his staff while Jun rushed to the teen still crouching.

The cuts were bleeding heavily. They were jagged and the skin was torn in painful zigzags. The skin around them was already irritated and red.

His clothes quickly became stained with blood. He hissed in pain when Jun helped him stand.   
Juzo had apparently taken care of the remaining few. He came up on Bon's other side and put his arm around his shoulders. Together, they stumbled out of the temple. It was a far walk to the Ryokan.

"Here. I got him." Juzo said. Jun helped the teen on his back and Juzo carried him like a little kid on a piggy-back ride.

Suguro could feel the area around the gashes pulsing. They stung and burned. He could feel every drop of blood he lost, like he was hyper-aware of everything happening to his body. Eventually it came to be too overwhelming and he passed out on Juzo's back.

§~•~§~•~§

Finally, he was done!

His knife was sheathed, the fire was still crackling and the burn in his wounds was fading slowly as he gasped for breath. It hurt to move, so he just barely shifted to lay down comfortably.

It had been a hard and painful four days. He would sleep a lot tonight. He needed the rest.

§~•~§~•~§

"Okami-sama!" Jun yelled. Juzo brought Suguro in and set him on a bed in a random room. Torako came rushing in at the urgency in the woman's voice. She gasped at her son's appearance. He was laying on his stomach, only half-concious. His head laid on his arms as Juzo ripped the back of his shirt open.

The cuts were nasty. Suguro was quickly turning pale. He shivered at the cold air on the sensitive skin around the cuts despite the sweat beading on his brow.

"They don't look infected. Just irritated." Torako immediately jumped into action. She ordered Jun to get gauze, medical tape, and alcohol. "Okami, we don't have that much alcohol left." Juzo warned.

"Then I'll have to use a small amount and make the most of it." She said. She wet a towel and pressed it to the cuts on his back first, then his side. She switched back and forth, cleaning them until they were just cuts with irritated skin around them. Blood was still spilling from them, but she got the most bacteria she could out.

Suguro winced and hissed in pain whenever the alcohol was put against the gashes or pressure was applied to them. "They won't stop bleeding. Get me another old towel, now!" Torako ordered. Jun ran to get what the woman asked.

"I also brought Rukuske." She came back with her husband. "Oh, good. Come here, I have no idea what I'm doing." Torako smiled at the man. He kneeled down next to the bed and examined the cuts. "Someone get me gauze and something with aloe in it." He said.

Juzo came back with Mamushi, who had some herbs and aloe in a basket she'd been mixing. She mashed them together while Rukuske picked shards of rotting nail and bone from the undead out of the wounds.

"Here. It should prevent infection. I'll make a second one to put over it to bind the skin back together." Mamushi handed him the salve she'd made. The man carefully applied it to the wounds and then wrapped them up with gauze. Suguro grumbled when he had to move to wrap the bandages all the way around him.

After they were done, they left the room, letting him sleep.

§~•~§~•~§

It was dinner time. They ate salad. The garden had been well maintained by the employees of the inn and some had survived by locking themselves in and eating the garden foods.

Torako's employees were smart. They had enough vegetables ripe to pick and make a salad. Ao and Nishiki, Mamushi's younger sisters, fed Ryuji.

She wished they had meat to eat with it, but they were lucky they even had this garden, so she figured she should thank Buddha for this gift.

If she still believed in him. Her husband was gone and so were the rest of the leaders. Mostly women and children were left, with the exception of the Shima brothers, Ryuji, and Konekomeru. Even then, there were only a few women from the temple and a few female employees. Most of the men had died and turned into those....those...._things._

She served everyone their food and then sat with her son in his room. He was sleeping peacefully and looked like he was getting some color back. He wasn't sweating anymore either. That was good. She smiled and cupped his face, stroking his cheek with her thumb. He'd grown up to be such a handsome boy.

She remembered late night conversations with Tatsuma after they'd put Ryuji to bed.

××××××××××××

** _"He's handsome, like you. He's got your face." Torako mused._ **

** _"Yes, but he's got your eyes. Your stubbornness and pride, too." Tatsuma countered. "He's also sweet, like you. He just disguises it with anger. He'll be a fine young man one day. Take over the temple. Find a lovely wife. Have kids." Torako smiled at the thought. _ **

** _"He loves reciting those mantras with you. It's the only times he can see you during the day, dear." _ **

** _Tatsuma shifted, not liking the new topic of conversation. He'll understand one day, Torako. I know he will." Tatsuma sighed._ **

××××××××××××

She finished her food and settled down for the night, wishing Tatsuma could've had more time with Ryuji to explain himself and make things better again.

§~•~§~•~§

_He was out. He was free! He walked with them and they didn't bite him. _

_No, not him._

_They knew what he was. _

_They knew he was safe from them._

_They knew he was immune._

_He'd been stuck in a building with those disgusting creatures for months. He'd rotted some, then slowly, ever so slowly, he healed. He ate more and got stronger. He remembered who was in his memory. _

_It was the only reason the immune factor in his blood has gotten stronger. He'd remembered and strived to find that person. _

_They were a good person. He'd always liked them. They were special._

_They were strong._


	7. Seven

Rin was tired.

So, so tired.

He didn't know how long he'd slept, but he wished he could never wake up.

§~•~§~•~§

Rin dreamed.

He dreamed of Shiro, and Yukio, and the clergymen. Dreamed of Birthdays and Easters and Summer Breaks, and Festivals.

He dreamed of the times when Yukio wasn't so harsh to him.

Dreamed of his days spent in the old man's bakery down the street.

Dreamed of his last days with his brother.

That was where the pleasantness ended though.

He should've shot Yukio. Should've cut his head off. Should've kept him from becoming one of those things. But instead, he ran, and left Yukio to be eaten by them in a horrible, gruesome death. Now, his corpse probably stumbled around in Tokyo, mindless and rotting.

§~•~§~•~§

On the outside, in the real world, a tear slipped down his cheek.

§~•~§~•~§

Suguro dreamed.

He dreamed of his mom, his dad, Shima, and Konekomeru.

He dreamed of picking a cucumber and bringing it to the shrine to chant with his father.

He dreamed of birthdays and Easters and Summer Breaks and Festivals.

He dreamed of the days when his temple wasn't poor and shunned.

Dreamed of the days his father would spend time with him and Mom. Dreamed of his last days with his father.

The happiness ended there.

They'd been arguing lately. But then, those things attacked and he hadn't gotten the chance to apologize for what he said, or even say "I love you." one last time.

They should've chopped off their heads. But instead, they ran. And their people, their families, had turned into those walking corpses, only to die again at the hands of their own loved ones.

§~•~§~•~§

In the real world, a tear slipped down Suguro's cheek.

§~•~§~•~§

Rin woke up eventually. He didn't know how long he'd been out, but it seemed like quite a while. He was in severe need of food.

He stumbled to his feet, eating the few berries he had left and set out to hunt. He shook his initial dizziness off, drinking the rest of the water he'd boiled to drink. It was cold now, so it may have been only a few hours or maybe even days judging by the heaviness of his limbs. Whatever the case, he needed to get his strength back or he'd pay out and die.

He found a bushel of cherries and just as he went to pick them, he spotted see he hasn't seen in a long time.

Rabbit tracks. He blinked a few times, rubbing at his eyes-which probably wasn't a good idea with how dirty his gloves must be-just to make sure he wasn't paranoid. He knelt down, lightly touching the tracks. They were fairly recent. _Holy shit, they were recent!_

Rin took a deep breath to calm his hammering heart at the thought of real meat, real food to eat and energize him.

"Alright, alright. Follow the prints. Find the rabbit. Hope it's not a zombie." He told himself, his mind going a million miles a minute. He picked the cherries and ate some as a snack on the way, but saved the rest, stopping to pick some mulberries as well. Found some mushrooms he'd cooked a thousand times before when life had been normal and zombies were just a cool story plot in books.

He kept all the ingredients in a pouch made of old cloth. He'd wash them all off later, and maybe take a bath. It seemed the stream had gotten bigger, more water flowing through it. Maybe there was a sprinkler or a waterfall nearby that got rain and gave the stream more water.

Just as the teen was getting lost in thought, he saw movement in the foliage and froze. He waited with bated breath. Again, the bushes rustled before he saw the brown blur move away from it to sniff at him. He could've swiped at it with his knife, but realized that it might have an entire family of rabbits and purposely moved.

The rabbit took off and he followed it as quickly as he could, stopping once and a while so it could rest and then he'd chase it again. Didn't want it's little heart to burst before it made it back home.

Finally, the rabbit looked around after he'd stopped, hiding in the brush. It made a sound and more rabbits, some white, some with only a few spots of color, some more brown. Rin grinned and probably looked like a monster, but he slowly drew his knife to make the smallest sound possible and immitated the noise the rabbit made. Some of them came over curiously. As soon as they went into the bush he was hiding behind, he killed them silently, making sure no noise escaped them.

He was able to do this until most of them were dead and tied to him by their feet to hang from his belt.

This was the happiest he'd been in the apocalypse. He whistled as he made his way back. He skinned one of them, left the fur to hang out and dry on a tree, and cute the animal up. While he cooked it, he wondered if there were any other animals out here.

While he ate the meat, he dug a huge hole in the ground with a convenient stick and some strong tree bark. He'd cleaned the animals off in the stream after skinning them and wrapping them up in pieces of cloth he'd used to keep warm until now. He buried them to keep them from rotting. All those survival shows he'd watched as a kid paid off.

Out of nowhere, something rammed into him, sending him flying into a tree. He groaned, trying to get his vision clear while stumbling to his feet. Three seconds of clear sight was all he needed to know he was screwed if he didn't haul ass right at that moment. Part of him bemoaned his loss of the rabbits he'd hunted, but he scrambled to his feet and bolted anyway.

He was moving fast, too fast. Bolting between trees, jumping over roots, ducking under branches. He'd trip sooner or later. He heard that beast thundering after him and yelped, running as fast as his still healing keg would allow him.

He could climb a tree and stay yet, but the thing would probably wait him out until he needed water and had to come down only to get eaten.

Yeah, no. He hadn't survived all this time just to die at the hands of this creature. He let out a defiant yell and swung around a tree, pulling his sword out and slicing the throat of the beast, then turning and bolting. The trees blurred around him and all he could hear were his crashing footsteps and his heart beating in his ears.

He stopped for a second, thinking he'd lost the monster.

Big mistake.

Jagged claws raked his back and he screamed, falling forward. Christ, he was gonna pass out. Pain erupted from his back and spread across his body in a matter of seconds.

Man, he was in sad shape. He'd been doing great–being cautious, taking down undead whenever he had to, finding food–and then he'd messed up his leg and apparently his chances of survival when he'd gone across that damned highway.

He groaned, feeling dizzy even though he was face down in the dirt. The half-dead bear carcass sniffed at his hair. He tried to hold it back, but a cough made it's way out of his throat, spraying blood on the leaves and the bear's claws. It roared and raked it's claws across the side of Rin's head and Rin felt blood ooze into his hair and down his face as he tried to keep from moving any further.

He stayed still, trying to make his breathing quiet, not knowing how long he was there for. Eventually, the bear went away, it's rotting mass of flesh and bones making disgusting squishing noises.

He planned on moving to run as soon as he could, but he couldn't get up even if he wanted to. His head was pounding and his back pulsed with stinging pain. His arms shook with effort as he tried pushing himself up. They gave out and he fell back to the ground, most likely bruising his chin and nearly biting his tongue off, which hurt a lot since there was a steel ball in it.

One more time.

This time, he forcefully pushed himself up. The world spun and he leaned on a tree. He stumbled forward, not knowing where he was going. He didn't really know what was happening, but somehow, he ended up in some place that looked like a.....living room?

Hold up.

The stench of blood was everywhere(though that may have been him)and the coffee table was flipped over. It reminded him of the bloody scene that was his own living room when all this started.

Ah, fuck it all.

He collapsed on a couch and blacked out, gratefully giving in to the sleep pulling him under.

Maybe tomorrow would be a better day.


	8. Eight

Suguro looked around. So did his team.

No zombies. The roads were strangely empty.

Perhaps that was because they'd been delayed a while so he could heal and then waited another few days before coming back out to see the progress.

They were nearing the edge of the city now. No zombies so far. Not even any bodies in cars or any corpses in the streets. It was strangely barren and eerily quiet.

No trace of the undead in sight.

It was even more nerve wracking than there being an entire mob of them.

_Where did they go?_

They found resources. It seemed the people of Kyoto didn't put up much resistance to the sickness that caused this. There were plenty of resources left for the survivors. Food, water, clothes, shoes, baby formula, diapers and wet wipes, even things like hairspray and makeup.

They'd found some razors, so the men were clean shaven and didn't look like savages. Shaving cream was another surprising luxury. Seriously, they were astonishingly lucky.....

But all of this didn't make Suguro feel any better. If they were doing so great now, than what horrible things would come to haunt them later?

Even though there was no danger, his pulse raced in his veins. He felt like something was going to happen. Maybe something was coming.

They got what they needed and went back to the Inn.

§~•~§~•~§

Suguro dreamed of walkers. A huge mob of them. They were all crowding in a city, but the city wasn't Kyoto. It was too messy, the buildings too tall and extravagant in the skyline. The Kyoto Tower also wasn't there.

His vision flagged to a particular walker shuffling in circles. It used to be what might have been a young man, with shredded clothes and pale skin. It's jaw was dislocated and its cheeks were sunken. A pair of flimsy glasses sat crooked on its face. Its entire body looked like it'd been chewed up.

Then, his vision flashed to a scene in the forest somewhere. A pot over campfire. He couldn't tell where it was from, but the area around it was wet, so it must have rained there.

§~•~§~•~§

He bolted straight up in bed, sending a bolt of pain in his side. He'd moved too fast!

But what was he dreaming about again?

He tried hard to remember. He remembered something about a city and the woods, but there was something else, something he didn't quite catch.

Scarred skin and a calloused hand.

_What the hell did that mean?_

Suguro brushed it off and got up to go on his morning run. It was early morning anyways. Gotta stay in shape to survive.

§~•~§~•~§

Rin was stuck in a memory that had been lost until now.

Two days after the world turned upside down with corpses walking and the living dying, they'd all collapsed. Rin didn't know what had happened. While he'd been with Yukio, wandering, looking for survivors and trying to stay away from the undead, they'd just collapsed.

They woke up some time later. It seemed to be the same time of day, maybe a few minutes later. There was a tingling feeling in his veins. Something that stung, like bees buzzing inside his arms and legs and inside his lungs.

There was an acidic taste in his mouth, but there were no signs that he'd thrown up while unconscious.

The sky, at first, looked a burnt orange, like rust. But when he blinked, it was a regular pink, like the sunset. He looked over to his brother.

A few days later, Yukio wasn't looking so good. He said he felt sick, right before he bent over and threw up whatever he'd eaten for breakfast. After that, he'd run a fever for three days. Rin hadn't gotten sick at all, so at first, he'd feared the worst–the flu had gotten to his twin somehow.

They'd started calling it the Pink Flu because when people got it, their body would superheat and their skin would turn pink. They'd burn up, then cough blood. The blistering heat would rupture arteries and eventually, their lungs would fill with blood that escaped and they'd bleed out internally. Then, they vomit non-stop until they started seizing and foaming at the mouth. Usually, by the second seizure, their heart would stop.

After that, their bodies would either be left to rot or buried or put in a morgue, where they would inevitably rise again and do what their bodies remembered doing. If they saw something that looked like it could be easy food, they'd eat it. Rin had once seen them eat rocks along with an entire can of pineapples, including the tin can.

But when Yukio ended up recovering with no symptoms, Rin had sobbed in relief. It was the most horrifying thing, waiting to see if his brother began to turn a pale pink to see if he needed to cut his head off before the younger turned.

After that, Rin never questioned it.

But now, he felt something nagging at the back of his mind. Like he should know what that orange sky meant. Like he should know the cause of Yukio's sickness. The younger twin had never quite been the same after that. He'd seemed to get weaker and weaker, even though his resolve was strong. He got weaker until the day of his demise.

As the dream faded, Rin gave up, letting himself rest.


	9. Nine

Rin wasn't truly awake until he fell into the lake.

Yeah, it surprised him too.

Well, actually, it scared the crap out of him, because he was so disoriented, he didn't know which way was up or down once his head was submerged. Luckily, he was just in the shallow part, so he was floundering for nothing. Rin was glad no one saw that.

After he dragged himself out of the water sopping wet, he went inside to see where he'd slept and if it was safe. Any walkers here might have thought he was one of them since he was A.) covered in blood and B.) not moving.

There was blood splatter on the walls. The building itself was a wooden cabin, American style. It would've been nice if it didn't smell like blood and have the very stuff splattered everywhere.

It had a bathroom, one master bedroom and a spare bedroom, a small living room, and a kitchen. There were two closets.

Rin looked in the closets and nearly cried. There were some clean clothes hanging in there with work boots sitting under them. _Fuckin' sweet._

This was a treat! In the other closet, clean sheets and blankets, towels and extra bottles of shampoo, conditioner, and body wash.

Out of stupid curiosity, Rin turned the knob in the shower, just to see if there was at least water left in the pipes, but he got a full blast of it. Then he realized that since this cabin was in the wilderness, it probably had its own septic tank.

That time, he really did cry, because he got to take a shower. In the vanity, there were some pills, pain medicine, antibiotic ointment, and an old fashioned razor-basically a sharp, flat piece of shiny metal. Rin had never used one of them, but he could at least try.

With his hair washed and his body void of dirt, he was refreshed. But his back and head still ached. Less so after the pain medicine, of course. He cleaned the gashes on his back off as best he could, but there was no bandaging those huge gashes. His head, though, there _was_ something he could do about that.

First, he cut off most of the hair on that side using his trusty knife he'd had with him since this all began. Then he used the old razor to shorn it even shorter until he reached the desired length. He didn't have anyone to look good for besides himself, but that was enough for him.

He'd braided his hair to keep it out of his face, but hey, the one-side-shaved look didn't seem too bad. He'd definitely have some nasty scars on the side of his head when these healed. It had torn off the scalp in those places too, so there was going to be no hair growing there anymore. He burned his old clothes in the fireplace and put on some clean ones. A black shirt, a flannel, some pants, and the work boots. He was surprised they actually fit him. He found a backpack that looked like it had seen better days, but it still looked better than his own after a few months.

He stuffed necessities and extra clothes in it. With old cloth, he sewed little pockets in the sides as holsters for his weapons.

Rin knew he needed to keep moving, but hey, what was wrong with a few days of luxury? He'd stay just a while longer.


	10. Ten

Rin looked longingly back at the cabin. He wished he could stay here forever. A year ago, it wouldn't have been considered luxury, but now, whoever had survived these last about ten and a half months would want to stay here forever.

He knew _he_ did. But hey, maybe someone else would stumble upon this place and cry in joy too. Hopefully without being chased by the zombie bear.

Which raised some hesitation. Why were the bears infected, but bunnies weren't? Were all the bears infected? Were there more in this forest?

Rin cringed at the sight of the forest he was about to plunge into.

He pulled out his old map to look at it again. He'd apparently stumbled upon Lake Biwa, accroding to the sign next to the water. He traced his finger across the map, tapping his next destination-Kyoto. A shudder made it's way through him. Another big city. Possibly more corpses.

He hoped not.

Rin sighed into the heavy silence, looked at the trees, and started running.

§~•~§~•~§

Suguro was on babysitting duty.

Normally, he'd hate it. He didn't _do_ kids. They were so annoying. Not to mention loud, messy, and useless.

But in the zombie apocalypse, he'd gladly change soiled diapers, feed them messy food, and clean up spit-up. At least the six month old couldn't crawl yet. She was trying, but the baby just didn't have that strength yet. It was kind of funny to watch since all she could do was wiggle in place.

Konekomeru was helping them map the city out. They'd taken him on their last run so he could memorize the areas and maybe find the safest route to leave the city.

That left Suguro with Yumi, Sachi, Ten, and Kensuke. Yumi liked to help, so she cut the sandwiches for Kensuke into small pieces so the toddler wouldn't choke while giving Ten her own sandwich to eat. Suguro just had to try and make sure Sachi didn't get any stains on her clothes so his mother didn't have to go through the trouble of having to wash the clothes the old-fashioned way.

He succeeded. It was when he was about to pick up the baby to burp her that she decided to mess with him by throwing up. It didn't get on her clothes, but it got on Suguro's. He groaned. "Really?" Sachi gurgled happily and wiggled in his hold. He sighed.

"Goddamn kids." He grumbled as he walked through the hallway, on his way to put his shirt in the dirty clothes pile that quickly got bigger by day. Washing clothes was a hassle with only washing basins and soap.

He happened to run into one of the servants of the Ryokan. She was one of the younger ones, around Suguro's age. If his memory served him right, her mother worked here as well. She immediately blushed and looked down, walking briskly past him. He snorted. He knew he was considered "hot." He'd known since middle school. He just didn't let it get to his head. Mostly because he was too busy trying to be successful in society to bother with relationships.

He almost wished he had someone by his side to support him through this now though.....

Finally, he made it to the where his mother was already doing the laundry. He gave her the shirt and she laughed at his misfortune once she realized what must have happened. He scowled and his mother sighed. "Oh, Ryuji, you sweet boy. It'll happen. She's a baby. Don't worry about it." She chided. Suguro did his best to ignore the blush on his cheeks at Torako's doting as he walked away.

"And get a shirt on, young man! You'll give the younger girls a heart attack!"

§~•~§~•~§

The trees were even more sparse as Rin walked. He'd spent about two days walking in the same direction. There was less noise from the forest.

And of course he ran into them right before he hit the city.

Groaning and shuffling from a distance at first. It got slowly louder. They closed in faster than he expected, though. He barely had enough time to scramble into a tree.

Actually, he _didn't_ have enough time to get into a tree. They caught him and his stupid self, instead of pulling his knife or sword, tried to run. _Idiot!_

They dragged him back and he briefly remembered what had happened to Yukio.

** _Hell no!_ **

That would _not_ be him! He'd survive and live to see the day when the world bounced back after this. He refused to die after all he'd gone through this past year alone. Let alone the other fifteen years of his life wasted in a society not meant for him. He was surviving better in the zombie apocalypse than in normal society. So he'd live in this world and see humanity start over from scratch. For Yukio.

He elbowed the zombie trying to chomp his shoulder and reached for his sword, swinging it in an arc from it's sheathe through the unfortunate corpses trying to eat him. It cut clean, as always. In a world like that, never let your blade get dull.

He swung a leg back to kick away the ones crawling on the ground and pulled his knife and hacked off two heads.

He stabbed the knife into the tree and started climbing, kicking at the corpses grabbing at his legs. He barely made it up far enough so they couldn't reach him. Rin knew without even looking down at the mob of undead that he had no choice but to swing through the trees. He'd had to do it only once before and last time, he nearly broke his arm.

"Alright, take two." He announced, as if he were shooting an action scene in a movie. Rin pulled the rope he'd kept with him for a while off the side of the pack and pulled out his axe. He tied the rope and knotted it in the hole he'd made in the base of the axe just for this. The first time, he'd let the rope hang too loose and almost got eaten.

This time, he tied it in a harness around his chest and knotted it. He judged the distance carefully to the closest tree he could reach. They were much more spread apart now, a sign that he must be close to the outskirts of Kyoto at the very least.

He threw the blade in a perfect arc and the axe buried itself in a thick branch. Rin mentally cheered and swung, pulling his weight to one side, scrambling to grab the branch once he reached it.

Great. Now he just had to do this until it got dark or until he reached a safe place to run on the ground and hide in buildings.

§~•~§~•~§

"So, as far as we can tell, up to a third of the city is cleared of Zombies. Tomorrow, we'll go to the very edge of the city, just before the wilderness." Suguro told his crew the plan for the next day.

"Because we seem to be the only ones in Kyoto surviving, there are still plenty of supplies. Both Osaka and Kobe are pretty close distance wise, so we could probably stock up and then ration while others go on trips to get more supplies from those two cities. If we want to leave Kyoto and escape Japan all together, we could head north to see the docks and get a boat. That's our primary escape plan. We don't know if the rest of the world is infected, but we can't stay here. Japan will be overrun a since it's so small." He continued.

Jun raised her hand. What do we do if the rest of the world _is_ infected?" She asked. "We'll have to find a safe place to start farming and build our own homes." He said grimly.

"Humanity always bounces back. This is like the Black Death in Europe, or Ebola in Africa. Those of us left will find a way past it. It'll fade away, and we'll all be safe." Juzo assured them.

"The Bubonic Plague lasted three years and killed millions. You think we can find a safe place to live and avoid plague for _three years?_" Mamushi argued. Suguro cleared his throat to get their attention back on him. "I'd like to take a more optimistic point of view in a situation like this, so I'll go with Juzo's explanation and be happy with it." He told them. That shut them all up.

The meeting was adjourned.

§~•~§~•~§

Dark came a lot faster than safety did. Rin settled in a fairly large tree. He untied the knots and harness and tied himself to the tree so he wouldn't fall in his sleep.

It took him a while to fall asleep. Usually, when he was worn out like this, it was easy to just pass out. But even as his muscles burned like fire and his thoughts turned to mush, he couldn't sleep. Something was nagging at him. But at the same time, he was too done with the day to actually think on it.

Finally, his eyes got tired after staring at the stars through the trees and he fell into a dreamless sleep, the background sounds of zombies groaning and shuffling in the distance fading.


	11. Eleven

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Are y'all ready for things to start coming together? Cuz I sure am! Enjoy.

They got up at first light to get ready. It took long to draw baths these days, so they rarely bathed(much to Suguro's disgust)to save time. It took even longer to heat the water.

But they decided today was cleaning day. So Suguro, Juzo, Jun, and Mamushi just all took a bath together. To say it was uncomfortable to be the only teen there was an understatement.

He sunk lower in the water and looked anywhere but the women. The adults conversed and thankfully let him get lost in thought. He closed his eyes and thought about the map they'd made of Kyoto so far. They'd marked off sources when there was nothing left to scavenge. They marked off areas that were demolished from fire damage or cars crashed into the buildings. All they had left to explore was the edge of the city. The outskirts.

The men and women split up to wash each other's backs. "These gashes are looking a lot better thanks to the salve we've been using." Juzo commented, running a finger along the jagged scratches from the last run-in with zombies. The skin was still tender and sensitive, also itchy, but that meant they were healing. It was for the best he couldn't really reach them to scratch either.

"How are you guys and Sachi doing?" He tried to make small talk. "We're doing okay I guess. Sachi's finally learning how to walk already and I honestly think it's because she's trying to escape her overbearing mother." Juzo answered jokingly. "Mamushi keeps trying to get her to learn words even though she just barely got all her teeth."

Suguro snickered. "Yeah, she holds onto my fingers and tries to walk. If those servant girls giggle any more, I think their heads will fall off." Suguro grumbled. "Heh, thanks for watchin' em while we borrow Koneko." Juzo thanked.

They finished bathing and got ready for the long day ahead. They had to make good time, otherwise they wouldn't make it back until well after dark.

§~•~§~•~§

Somehow, Rin ended up on the ground. His rope was chewed through in several places.

"Please tell me there aren't zombie _squirrels_ now." He groaned.

The city was very close in front of him now. Rin continued to retreat; the rotting corpses kept advancing. A decaying hand came up from below his level of vision and slapped him in the face. He looked down to see a kid about ten reaching up to pull him down. It grabbed his hair and out of reflex, he kicked it in the stomach. Since it was a scrawny corpse, it flew to the back of the crowd and took out two other zombies. Another corpse-child pounded at his chest. He growled and looked out over the crowd that had accumulated around him.

_What the hell?!_

They were mostly kids, teens, and young adults! _Why?!_

Rin elected to ignore that for now. He opted to deal with his bugger problem. Another scrawny kid tried to kick him, but it's leg broke in half and it fell. Rin pulled him to his feet, almost tearing the collar of his ripped shirt. He heard the slight rasp of material ripping as he threw the zombie kid into the mob in front of him. The didn't help with the ones behind him though. They'd quickly surrounded him.

He'd just woken up, but he was already tired again since he hadn't even gotten a chance to eat before fighting.

Not that cold beans in a can would help him at all....

He pulled his katana and began slicing, putting force into it to effectively slice straight through the corpses, ignoring the fact that he'd cut through a few toddlers hobbling towards him with rotting teeth bared. He'd trained both with Rocco and alone. But a mob was still hard to handle alone, even with decent training. He spun and sliced and kicked.

It wasn't long before he was covered in zombie fluids and rotting blood. So much for his new clothes.

Rin fought as hard as he could, having yo turn and slice in every direction every few seconds. He didn't know how many of these things there were surrounding him, but he did know one thing: All by himself, he wouldn't last long.

§~•~§~•~§

It was around noon. They had decided not to stop for supplies until they were on their way back to the Ryokan.

As they got closer and closer to the city limits, they heard commotion. Suguro at first only heard grunts and shuffling, the trademark sounds of zombies, no big deal. But as they ventured closer, they heard heavy _thunks!_ like something was punching corpses, along with a high-pitched, metallic sound.

"Guys, come on." Suguro pulled them over to a decently stable building and they climbed up the front of it. The stairs in buildings were almost never intact or without corpses littering them.

"Is....Is that.....a _person?_" Jun squinted. A small moving form in filthy clothes that looked like they used to be black and red in the very middle of the mob was fending them off all on his own. He had a sword, fending off the undead with just that one weapon.

They decided to get a closer look before helping, just in case.

They got to the roof of a Motel much closer to the mob. The boy looked to be young, with long, jet-black hair. He was wearing a black and red flannel shirt and pants. They were ripped in multiple places–practically shredded–but the guy didn't let anything hold him back. He'd pulled out an axe now, twirling and slicing, backing away when the corpses got too close, then stabbing them through the back while they stumbled. Sometimes, hands would grab him from behind if he backed up too far, and he'd just elbow them away and dispatch them with a quick spin.

His expression was fierce. He wasn't going down until these things ate him _alive._ "He's getting tired. His swings are slower. We've got to help him!" Jun turned to them.

"Are you crazy?! he could be already bitten!" Juzo hissed. "But what if he isn't?" Suguro stepped in. "We can't take a random guy back to our safe haven. There's already too many mouths to feed." Juzo argued. "He's a human being! If he's been surviving on his own this whole time, he can pull his own weight at the Ryokan! And I don't think he'd be fighting like that if he was bitten and knew he had no chance." Mamushi joined the argument. "How could you possibly know that?" Juzo demanded.

Suguro grabbed his shoulder and turned him to look at the still fighting teen below them. "Look at how he fights. He's used to fighting alone with no one watching his back. He's watching all sides equally as best he can and he's damn good at it. If we don't go help him, he's gonna be eaten and give us a fresh new corpse to find us and kill us all." Suguro explained.

"....Fine. But don't blame me if we have to kill him because he's a psycho or something." Juzo grumbled. Mamushi rewarded him with a kiss on the cheek and Suguro fake-gagged. They climbed back down the Motel. Suguro felt something jittery in his veins-excitement, maybe curiosity at who this guy was. Where was he from? Was he intentionally trying to get to Kyoto or had he just been wandering aimlessly, looking for other survivors? Were there any survivors in other cities?

All of these questions and no answers, no, not yet. Suguro didn't hesitate. He pulled his knives and jumped right in, slashing a bloody trail to the middle of the mob. The boy looked surprised for a split second, but then his gaze hardened and he grabbed Suguro to yank him down. Suguro heard the blade sing as it sliced through a corpse coming for him from behind.

He was yanked back up roughly and pushed to the side as the teen planted his boot _in_ a zombie's chest cavity. Suguro punched the thing's head right off it's shoulders and the boy yanked his boot out, covered in guts and slime, just like the rest of him.

Suguro's team worked their way through the corpses from the outside. Finally, the guy suddenly rushed the last four, jumping in the middle of them and dispatching the undead with one move: he held the sword behind his back, blade outwards at a diagonal angle and spun. The corpses peeled backwards like a banana around him.

It was silent for a minute except for the sound of them breathing. The mysterious boy was breathing hard. He swayed before dropping to one knee with a grunt. "Woah! Hey, are you alright?" Suguro crouched to get a better look at him. Now that they weren't fighting for their lives, he saw the three jagged scars that ran horizontally across the teen's scalp on the right side of his head, where the hair was more or less evenly shaved. There was another scar on his left cheek, except this one was more precise, as if he'd been cut intentionally. There were dozens of smaller scars on his arms, or at least the skin that was uncovered.

The guy continued to look downwards, as if afraid to acknowledge them. "Hey," Suguro reached out and titled the boys head up gently. He figured the boy would run if he felt threatened, so it was best to take it slow and easy. "Are you alone?"

The boys face was dotted with freckles and he was tan, probably from being outside so often. His sharp eyes were a deepest blue Suguro had ever seen. He opened his mouth, but instead of answering, he punched Suguro in the gut and bolted towards the nearest building-which happened to be the Motel they just came down from.

"What the hell?!" Suguro gasped, trying to get his breath back. "Nonono, he's not an enemy, he's just scared!" Jun told Juzo, who'd drawn his staff. "He hit Bon!" Juzo protested. "He probably hasn't had any contact with actual people in a long time if that's how he reacted." Mamushi put in.

§~•~§~•~§

Rin hid just inside the crumbling doorway of the building. He shouldn't have run away. Those were _real_ _people!_

He hadn't even seen another human in almost a year. Could he trust them? Were they the only ones left in Kyoto? Would they kill him and take his belongings? Would they send him off back into the woods with the zombies to get him out of their city?

His breathing picked up and now he was hyperventilating and shaking and sweating and _whatdoIdowhatdoIdowhatdoIdo?_

"Hey there!" A soft voice called. _Don't look, don't look, don't look_-he looked. He peeked around the concrete doorway. One of the women spotted him, but didn't come any closer. "I say we leave him. If he doesn't wanna come back with us, then that's one less mouth to feed." A man's voice grumped.

"Come on, we have lots of people back at our Inn. It's a little Safe Haven." The same soft voice from before, ignoring the man's comment. The woman was walking slowly closer to him. Rin got a good look at them while he had the chance. A man, two women, and a guy his age.

Rin slowly creeped out of his hiding place. The woman that had been talking to him smiled. "What's your name, sweetie?" She asked politely. Rin debated whether or not to give her his real name or a fake one for a moment before discarding the idea. What was the point? They couldn't do anything to hurt him just knowing his name since the world was basically set back to the Stone Ages.

"Rin." His voice was rough from misuse. He didn't talk very often. Only little whispers to himself. "I'm Jun." She stuck out her hand. Rin didn't take it. She retracted it, not deterred at all. "That's Juzo and Mamushi. They're married." She pointed to the man and white haired woman. "I'm Suguro Ryuji." The teen stepped forward. Rin blinked at him. He was tall, built, and had six piercings total in his ears. There were blond streaks mixed into his dark, curly hair. Said hair was pulled back in a ponytail.

"Are there really other people besides us?" He turned back to Jun. She nodded. "Yes. Our Temple was a ways away from the city, so we didn't get hit as bad. We have suffered many losses, so most of those left are women and children. Oh, and there are two other boys your age, if you'd like to meet them." She offered.

The teen still looked skeptical, but decided to follow them home. "So, where are you from?" Juzo asked. "A city far from this one." Came the short reply. "Ah. So it's the same all the way across Japan, huh?" Juzo sighed. "Yeah. Cities were massacred. You're lucky you didn't have to see it...." Rin grimaced.

"Ah, well, anyway, we've got lots of fresh fruits and vegetables back at the Ryokan. And a stream to collect water from if you want to wash all the dirt off." Mamushi changed the subject quickly. A corner of Rin's lips quirked up. "Fresh food sounds nice. I've been living off of canned food. If I have to eat any more refried beans, I'm going to starve myself." Rin said. Suguro gave a snort. "Hey, do you happen to have any canned meat? Aside from beans?" Suguro put in. Rin nodded. "Yup. There's spam, chicken, chicken broth, and beef. I was saving them for last so I wouldn't die on a stomach full of beans and spinach." Rin replied. That got them all to laugh. Rin gave a small smile himself.

He was a people person. He loved people. Thing was, people usually didn't like him. Probably because he was brutally honest and didn't exactly see the need for a filter at times. People don't like the truth. Maybe now, with the world ending, he could actually make some friends.

§~•~§~•~§

It took them a long time to get back. Mostly because Rin was fatigued. They weren't especially worried until he passed out literally in the middle of taking a step. Juzo caught him before his head hit the ground, but they stopped briefly to examine his symptoms. His skin was feverish, even more so because of the cozy flannel material. His cheeks were flushed a light pink and he was beginning to sweat more than what was usual. The only way they were able to tell he wasn't infected was that he reacted when they pinched him and his eyes moved when forced open.

They took him back to camp. Suguro would've carried him if it weren't for the still healing wounds on his side. Juzo carried Rin all the way up to the Ryokan as the teen slept fitfully.


	12. Twelve

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y'all I had back surgery and it has NOT been a fun summer. All I can say is that drugs are magical and I called my nurse pretty several times, along with vomiting up everything I ate for the rest of the day after the surgery, which is embarrassing. Anyways, enjoy!

Rin felt like he'd just run a marathon.

His muscles had been feeling sore since he woke up and he'd been feeling hot and stuffy. Even the area around his tongue piercing felt a little sore. He assumed it was just because of the heavy flannel, pants, and boots causing him exhaustion in the heat.

He only felt worse over the course of the day, fighting, keeping the undead from chomping him. Then, people found him and he had a minor panic attack because he didn't know what to do. Later, as they walked, he felt weak and his muscles hurt more than ever. Finally, he collapsed.

In hindsight, he should have said something or at least eaten something, but now that they'd deduced that he was sick, he was glad he didn't. He would've thrown it up. Much like he was doing now, on his knees in the street. Mamushi held his hair out of the way as he puked up stomach acid and then dry heaved for a while.

His throat stung from the stomach acid and he gratefully washed his mouth out with the water bottle they gave him. "Do you think you can walk or....." Juzo trailed off. "Let's find out." Rin got up off his knees, swayed, and took a step forward. He walked a few steps on his own before his knees buckled. He was caught by Suguro this time. Despite the situation, he blushed.   
He hadn't had any human contact in an entire year. Even worse, he'd been stressed and hyperactive because of A.) The Apocalypse and B.) he already had ADHD, so he was more than sexually frustrated and buzzing with energy.

Rin was glad he had a fever to cover up the blush.

Suguro held him up, both arms wrapped around the shorter teen's waist to keep him upright. "Sorry." Rin apologized sheepishly, looking away so he didn't have to face the incredibly good looking boy in front of him and so he didn't breathe in Suguro's face because his breath must smell absoloutely horrid.

Suguro shrugged. "It's not for lack of trying, so you're forgiven." The teen grunted, hoisting Rin up so he could press the smaller boy against him. Rin got the idea and slung an arm across Suguro's shoulders and Suguro scooped him up bridal-style. "This is easier than piggyback for me." The taller teen said.

They resumed the journey back to the Ryokan.

§~•~§~•~§

"Mom! He's running a high fever and can't keep anything down. We have to get him somewhere comfortable." Suguro didn't stop for greetings or explanations. His mother understood and set into action. If her son brought some stranger in, than he believed they were safe and she would trust him on that.

"Hey! You three, come here!" She called over three servants. "You, I need a bowl of lukewarm water. You, I need herbal tea. You, I need soft blankets and a couple pillows from storage. Go!" She ordered. The three women split up, running down different hallways.

Torako walked alongside Suguro. She examined the boy in her son's arms. He was definitely feverish. His skin was pale, with cheeks flushed red. Sweat beaded on his brow and he looked to be very uncomfortable, brows furrowed, jaw clenching and unclenching, as if he wanted to speak, but couldn't.

They laid him down in Suguro's room. It had an actual bed with a matress instead of traditional floor mats and pillows. The three women from before arrived with the supplies asked of them.

"Alright dear. You don't know me, but I'll help take care of you until you're better." Torako said in a quiet voice. She slid a hand under Rin's head and pushed it up just enough for him to sip the tea. He remained out of it as she let him rest.

"He's wearing too much clothing. Take his clothes off, I'll come back with light weight clothes for him to wear." Torako ordered her son, leaving the room. This boy was the first outsider they'd come across, she wasn't about to let him die in her Inn.

When she came back in to check on him a few hours later to feed him dinner, he was in only a long sleeve button up and his undergarments. A thin blanket was placed over him and a damp cloth lay on his forehead. His cheeks were still flushed with heat and he was breathing hard, nearly panting. She frowned. This was worse than earlier. Hopefully, it would get better by morning.

Her son was sitting criss crossed on the mat brought in for him to sleep on tonight, just like she'd expected. She handed him his food. "Here. I brought some fruits for him to eat." She said, nodding at the sick teen in the bed. "Thanks. I think this is the worst it's gonna get. His skin's not turning pink and he probably would have burned out a while ago. I was able to get some information from him earlier. He said he'd felt crappy all day, but thought nothing of it until he actually lost his food." Suguro told the woman. She smiled. "That's good. Although I'd like to formally meet this young man." She sighed.

"Yeah. All I know is that his name is Rin and he seems to have been alone for a while." Suguro reported. "How do you know that?" She wondered. "He saw us and immediately freaked out. Might have been a panic attack, which really didn't help his flu." The teen grimaced. "Oh, the poor dear. I wonder how long he's been alone." Torako voiced her thoughts.

"Long time." A raspy voice answered. Rin was peering up at them through one opened eye. "Oh! Sorry dear, did we wake you?" She apologized. The teen didn't respond and instead closed his eye once more and laid there silently.

"I'm so sorry you've been alone." Torako whispered. She left Rin's food with her son and exited the room. Before she left, she stopped and turned around. "Ah, where did you say you were from dear?" She wondered kindly. Rin opened his eyes slightly, hesitating. He stayed silent for a long minute. "A city. If you're thinking of leaving here, Tokyo and Nagoya are out. Biggest cities were horror fests." He said quietly. The woman nodded and left.

Suguro looked at the boy in his bed. He'd looked stunning earlier when he'd been fighting off the dead that surrounded him. The fact that he'd done that even with the flu was even more amazing. Now though, he looked like he needed a full day of sleep and some real food.

"Were you with anyone before?" Suguro wondered quietly. Rin's lips tilted up at the corners slightly. "A brother. We were twins." He whispered, like if he said it any louder, it would disturb the tense peace. Then he cleared his throat. "Um....thank you. For saving me. Back there." His sentence came in fragments as they sat awkwardly. "Ah....yeah. No problem. Uh....I'll go get you some more water." Suguro abruptly said, leaving the food on the bedside table before getting up and leaving the room.

He found Shima waiting outside the door, about to knock. "Oh, sup dude? How's the new guy?" Shima greeted him in his lazy way, like always. "I didn't really pay attention to how good looking that guy was before." Suguro hid his burning face in his hands. Shima snorted. "Hold up. The straight laced, hard-boiled leader Bon has the hots for a random guy he found wandering in Kyoto just earlier today? I gotta meet this guy!" Shima laughed. "Oh shut it! It's not like love at first sight. He's just....hot." Suguro explained.

Shima smirked and pushed past him, opening the door. Rin was already asleep in the few minutes they spent talking outside his room, food untouched on the table next to him. He slept silently, his breathing more regulated now, but still a little fast.

Shima stared at the boy sleeping in the bed. His skin was tanned with little freckles dotting it- probably from spending lots of time outside, although his cheeks were still tinted pink from the fever. His features were soft and Shima's could almost mistake him for a girl, but his cheekbones and jaw were angular enough to tell he was male. He seemed perfectly calm in sleep. His inky black hair was long and draped on the pillow. One side was shaved, with pink and slightly swollen scars that looked like only half-healed claw marks cutting harshly through the scalp. Shima winced in sympathy. That must have hurt.

The teen's eyes began to flutter open. The stranger stared at the hazy, but intense blue irises, unable to look away. They were so _blue._ They were beautiful. "Who....?" The boy mumbled, still half asleep, but curious about the new guy with pink-ish hair.

"Uh....I'm Shima. Sh-Shima Renzou. I'm....Suguro's friend." Shima stuttered. He had to remember that Bon usually went by his last name when meeting new people. The name was strange on his lips after always calling him Bon.

"Hnn. You're my age too?" The boy asked. Shima nodded dumbly. He'd never seen a single Japanese person with eyes that weren't black, brown, or hazel. Then, in stumbles this drop-dead gorgeous Japanese boy from another city with bright, stunning blue eyes and cute-ass freckles. The teen closed his pretty eyes and went back to sleep, too comfortable and too tired to stay awake much longer.

Shima stumbled out of the room to let the boy sleep. "What's his name and where's he from?!" Shima whispered harshly. "Said his name was Rin. He's from another city. That's all he would tell us." Suguro answered. "He's cute as hell." Shima muttered. Suguro snorted. "Hey, if it comes down to it, I call dibs." Shima stated. "Wh-hey! What if _I_ want a go at him?" Suguro asked incredulously.

"May the best man win." Shima shrugged.

§~•~§~•~§

Rin woke up later and ate the food left there. It tasted heavenly. He could've cried. No more of those _stupid_ beans! He also noticed he had company, but only after he'd wolfed down the food like a starving animal.

"You're.....Shima?" He struggled to recall the muggy memory. "That's me! Figured you should have some company after being by yourself out there. Suguro wanted to be here, but he's all we have for a leader, so he's handling things right now." The boy said. Rin noticed that his hair had been dyed pink at one point, but it had faded and the dark roots had grown in. So it looked more like Shima had dyed the ends of his hair pale pink, but it still worked for him somehow.

Another thing Rin noticed was that his heavy clothes were gone and he was only wearing his underwear and an oversized button down, like a nightgown. He sat up abruptly. He felt heat fill his cheeks. Who had undressed him?! And who's shirt was this?! Oh god, was it Suguro's?!

"You okay? You're lookin' a little red there." Shima quirked an eyebrow. Rin shook himself out of his quickly spiralling thoughts and responded. "Uh, yeah, I'm fine. But....you wouldn't happen to know who changed me into this?" Rin asked sheepishly. Shima threw his head back and laughed. "That was Juzo, one of the guys that helped bring you here. Bon was too hopeless, so he made Ju-nii do it." Shima answered easily. "Bon....is that his nickname? Suguro's?" Rin wondered. "Yeah. We used to have a Temple, but it was overrun, so a couple months ago, we came down the mountain to this Inn. His mom is the Okami." The teen told him.

"Oh...and you have plenty of supplies? And water?" Rin questioned noting the bowl of water beside his bed that had probably been used for keeping the rag on his forehead damp. "Yup! Although, we just take baths every few days, sometimes once a week. We have to lug the water in basins up from a stream somewhere a little ways down the mountain and it takes a while for a fire pit to warm them. Most of us have gotten used to lukewarm baths." The teen explained. "And don't feel like you need to repay us for taking you in. You've been alone out there for a while. That had to be tough. I'm actually kinda surprised you're talking to me this much." Shima laughed. Only then did Rin realize he was just asking away all his questions, no suspicion intended.

"Huh. Guess you're just....chill. I used to be as laid back as you. Now I feel like a cranky old man most days." Rin sighed, laying back down. It seemed he'd used up all his energy talking. Rin felt like he'd spent the last few months getting hurt and passing out a lot. And it all started with that stupid highway in Nagoya....

Shima was laughing at the old man comment. "Alright, old fart, get some rest. You've been in and out for a day. Another day of rest and real food should get you back on your feet at least enough to use the bathroom by yourself." Shima got up and closed the curtains. Rin smiled. "Heh, thanks. Talk to you later, then?"

"Sure! I'm usually free. I hang out with the little kids. If you don't see them, you'll hear them. Night, Rin." Shima chuckled.

He left the room and Rin turned on his side, relishing in the clean smell of the pillows and sheets. He let his dreams take him to a happier place for once instead of seeing things he didn't want to remember.

§~•~§~•~§

_He was driving a truck. It was a military truck and he'd found plenty of gas from other trucks for it._

_He was on his way to that previous person in his dreams. All he could remember was the person, not their name. He wished he could remember everything. All the little details he knew he was missing._

_Getting to that person was hard because highways were a big no no. They were clogged by both cars and flocks of the undead. _

_Offroading was easier in this vehicle, thankfully. He didn't need weapons since the undead ignored him. Maybe all those months spent with the dead gave him their lingering scent that other corpses recognized. _

_All he knew was he was on his way. He was going by instinct, which led him east. He could only assume he was going towards that person that mattered a lot to him._


	13. Thirteen

Izumo swung her bat at the lone Walker that had lunged for Paku and made sure to crush the head.

A whole year, they'd been trying to escape Inari. But it was bowled in by mountains. They were so close to getting out of the bowl. Finally! They ran into the occasional stray zombie up here, but it was pretty easy to escape if you knew what footholds to use. There were plenty of caves in the mountains as well, so they'd be safe for the night.

It had originally been just her and Paku and Tsukumo, but they'd found a woman who'd been visiting the Shrine in Inari. She was surely a good killer, if her skills in taking down these corpses had anything to say for it. She'd kind of become like an older sister of sorts to them. She'd taught Izumo how to hunt so they could all eat meat if they found any. She taught Paku what berries were edible and what ones were poisonous. She helped take care of Tsukumo, who was only around four years of age. She was so small and fragile and curious. Izumo was always afraid the little girl would stumble off and get lost and then die alone out there.

But she had to keep on a brave face and trust Paku and Shura to help her take care of her little sister. She had nothing else to lose to the Apocalypse but her friends now. The virus had spread directly from her mother after they came back from a trip to Tokyo for some supplies. Tamamo had been feeling bad since the trip. She'd checked herself into the hospital. When Izumo and Tsukumo came to visit, Tamamo was quarantined. Her skin was pink and her fever was relentless. She died within days and it was over with, but the nurses she'd come into contact with got the virus and it kept spreading until everyone but Izumo, Paku, and Tsukumo were the living dead.


	14. Fourteen

After two days, Rin was back on his feet. He wasn't allowed to lift things or really help out that much, though.

He usually stuck with Bon, who basically oversaw everything that went on at the Ryokan. When he wasn't with Bon, he was with Shima, watching the kids. Rin hadn't been a big fan of kids before, but now that the world was ending, just being around them almost made him cry. The last time he'd seen a kid, he'd lost both the kid and something else precious.

The gang members that used to hang in Rin's neighborhood had of course survived the first sweep of the virus and stockpiled all the food and supplies they could find.

They'd run into Rin and his group and negotiated. Rin's group would spare a little food and the gang would give them some medical supplies that they needed. It was settled peacefully and everyone was happy.

Except everyone _wasn't_ happy and during a scouting mission, the gang ambushed them and took them back to their base. They'd tied them up. There were four of them-Rin, Yukio, Sierra, and Rocco. Sierra was a 10-year-old American girl who'd been on a visit with her Aunt and Uncle in Japan. Rocco was a French Baker who'd been visiting her brother, who was in the army and had been stationed in Japan. Even though she ran a bakery, she was one tough chick. Rin learned she'd gone hunting with her father and her grandfather all the time, so she knew how weapons worked pretty well. She'd also been a troublemaker in school and fought people a lot.

They'd been taken to an empty room in an office building, tied up and gagged, and then tied to different support beams.

Rin had been slapped awake. The leader, Reiji, grabbed his jaw and forced a kiss. Rin bit his tongue and the asshole pulled back, but that just made him angry. Then, the others were woken up and the gang members began doing what they wanted-forcing kisses, ripping their clothes off, touching places their nasty hands shouldn't have been.

Just the thought used to make Rin want to cringe and curl up into a ball. He'd like to say they didn't get what they wanted from him, but they did. Fortunately enough, Rocco bit one of the guys and then head-butted him when he leaned down to growl at her. She'd rubbed her wrists raw getting them free, but she grabbed her knife with one hand, the guy in the other and chopped his dick straight off. Rocco sawed herself free, kicking away anyone who got close to her and made her way over to Sierra, who was being harassed by a guy twice her age. Rocco shanked one guy and then sliced another across the face and got Sierra free.

Sadly, Sierra was the only one she could free and protect since Rin and Yukio were on opposite sides of the room. Rin wasn't mad at her for it. The kid took priority as the youngest and weakest. Sierra barely knew how to defend herself since they'd only found her a few weeks ago.

But this only meant that she had to stand and watch as the twins got taken advantage of by these creeps. Rin had screamed and struggled as much as he could, but that didn't deter Reiji one bit. He took Rin brutally while his friends played with Yukio. When they tried to do anything else to Yukio, Rin screamed. "No! Use me, not him!"

"Oh? We can do what we want and you'll be quiet, huh?" Reiji chuckled. "Yes. Do whatever you want to me, but leave him out of it." Rin answered, voice hoarse from yelling for hours. By the time it was dawn the next day, Rocco had managed to get out with the girl, but Sierra fell behind and one of Reiji's guys shot her dead in the chest. Rin had been fucked and wrecked the whole night, by multiple abusers. Yukio had to sit and watch it all happen. He'd sobbed while Rin was yanked up by his hair and raped repeatedly with no preparation.

By dawn, blood and release were dripping out of him and he was passed out. Yukio had cried and writhed in his place until there were no tears left to cry and there was no energy in him left to struggle. Rin hated that Yukio had watched that all night, but it was better than him getting this treatment while Rin watched. Finding out later that they'd lost Sierra was more than he could take and it took Rin a while to pull himself back together enough to lead their group after that.

That night was a horrible one. Luckily enough for Rin, he got over things easily, even if they were horrible enough to scar.

Somehow, he had forgotten about that night. Or it was more like the vividness had faded drastically. He couldn't really feel the pain or humility from it anymore. Just numbness. Things were probably better this way. His mental health had already declined enough for him to have a full on panic attack at the sight of actual living people after eight months of talking to himself and nearly starving, not to mention his bad luck that had plagued him for at least a month maybe longer after he'd messed up his leg.

He was grateful to the people in Kyoto. They were functional and knew how to survive. They'd been lucky they didn't live in the city. They'd lost a lot, but their losses didn't hold them back, they pushed the survivors forward. Rin admired them for that. Most of these people may not be able to fight or even defend themselves, but they were strong in their own ways.

Rin hoped no one noticed, but for the past two days he'd cried himself to sleep. He'd never given himself time to properly mourn, time to process all that he'd lost. Never let himself dwell on it.

God, he'd lost his twin brother. Before the world ended, they'd been growing farther and farther apart. But when they had to fight together and survive together, they were amazing. Their relationship improved because they were all each other had left to hold onto. They'd been doing _so good._

But damn Yukio's kind heart to Hell–if it weren't for that long white coat that he loved so much, Yukio would still be here. Yukio would still be alive and well, fighting with Rin. At least they'd have each other. Now, Rin was left to survive on his own in a world he was better fit for than the world that came before it. The only reason Rin had lived this long was because Yukio wouldn't want him to give up. He lived for his little brother, even after the other had left him.

Before he'd even lost Yukio, he'd lost his virginity to those stupid gangsters who thought they ruled the world. Fucking pigs had taken something he could never get back. And they'd made his twin watch it all. Then they'd killed a ten-year-old who didn't deserve to die!

Rin cried so much he might've dehydrated himself. He wallowed in the pain and let it swallow him. It felt good to be alone, but also know that there were people outside, waiting to welcome him when he emerged from his depression. It felt good to let the emotions and tears out. To just be able to lay there and let it out after having it bottled up this whole time. He was safe.

And suddenly, he craved attention. He wanted to be around the boys his age he'd met. So he came out of his room in Bon's shirt and some of Shima's pants since they had similar sizes. He found the boys and immediately felt a small smile find its way to his face when Bon noticed him and waved.

Maybe things could work out after all.....

§~•~§~•~§

"I think that's Orion. I can see the belt." Rin pointed out the three close stars. "Oh! I can see it." Bon smiled. "Hey, what about that one? I think it's Hercules...." Bon pointed out a bright star twinkling, tracing the lines of the shape it was supposed to be. "Oh! I think that's....how do you say her name? Starts with a C." Rin frowned in thought.

"Cassiopeia? She was a Greek queen hung upside down in the sky as punishment." Bon offered. Rin nodded. "Mhm. A great story to tell your kids one day." Rin agreed sarcastically. Bon laughed. "Yeah. Hey kids, you see that zig-zag of stars? That's a Greek queen who got hung in the sky upside down as punishment. Don't be like her. Be like the guy who married her daughter. He outlived everybody." Bon snickered. "I relate to that guy. All these trials alone and I'm still not dead. Maybe I have his luck. He was the only one who lived a nice life and died of old age in the old legends." Rin sighed. Bon looked at him. "How do you know so much about this stuff?" He wondered.

"Eh, I had to do a report on Greek mythology where I had to list all twelve Olympians, give short summaries of all their births, and list the names of their most famous children in history." Rin explained. "That sound like a lot. What grade was this?" The older teen questioned. "First year in highschool. I learned a lot about Greek mythology and the constellations from that class." Rin answered.

"Huh. So....is that big star part of any constellations?" Bon pointed to a glimmering dot in the sky above them. "That's Scorpius." Rin said after a minute of examining the stars around it.

Laying on this grassy hill out here on a mountain, you could see all the stars and planets glimmering in the sky. It was beautiful. No one could really see many stars in Tokyo. Too much pollution in the air.

"What're ya thinkin' about?" Bon looked at him. "You can't see any stars or constellations in Tokyo. The city is....filthy. It's a huge place, crammed with buildings and crazy shops. The slums were filled with gangs and homeless people and orphans or teenagers that ran away from home and made a living doing odd jobs for people." Rin told him.

"And what part are you from?" Bon questioned. Rin realized he'd just given away he was from Tokyo. Then he realized he also didn't care. This was a city thousands of miles away from his home. Nothing could exactly come back to bite him in the ass.

"The slums. We were poor. I got by though. I didn't want to go to highschool. Only went because my dad wanted me to at least try. I dropped out after failing half of my classes. I actually didn't try at all. Not my proudest days. Just wanted to find work that paid enough for me to move out eventually." Rin shrugged.

"We? Did you have any siblings? Parents?" The older teen asked, interested. He wanted to know everything he could about the mystery boy from Tokyo. He hadn't met any new people in a year and this was the most positive excitement since Mamushi gave birth to Sachi a few months into the Apocalypse. And this guy was mysterious. He could fight like a _beast_. He wondered how Rin had gotten that good. That, and Bon had never met a single Japanese person with blue eyes. It was always brown, black, or hazel. Bon himself actually had a rare russet color–reddish-brown.

"My parents are dead. An old priest took us in–my brother and I, I mean. We stayed in a monastery with some clergymen. They raised us." Rin's answer was short and unsatisfying, as usual. God, why was it that every time this guy answered a question, it led to more questions and had answers that didn't make him any less mysterious?

"Did he have eyes like yours?" He blurted out. Rin raised an eyebrow at him. "What do you mean?" He asked cautiously. "Were his blue?" Bon rephrased, cheeks blossoming red at the seemingly childish question. Rin smiled softly. "They were turquiose. People always liked him a lot more than me. He was the kind, good-looking genius. I was the dangerous, delinquent, okay-looking brother who dropped out." The teen shrugged.

"Nonsense. You're hot." Again, he just blurted it out. He froze to see the boy's reaction, but Rin only laughed. "Yeah? Well, at least in the end of the world, I'm worth something." His laugh had been bitter.

Bon frowned and sat up abruptly. "Bullshit! There is no way people didn't notice those blue eyes!" Rin sighed. "Like I said, little brother was better than me in every way. Any talents I had, he could do something better. I'm kind of a jack-of-all-trades. I had a bunch of talents that were absoloutely _useless_ in the real world." Rin snorted, completely nonchalant about it.

"What kind of talents?" Bon was angry, but also curious. He hadn't seen the guy's talents other than decent humor and amazing fighting skills. They'd trained together recently, Rin teaching him new moves to take down the dead if he lost his weapon.

"Ah, odd things–cooking, piano, sports, gymnastics." Rin listed off, just to name a few. "Wait....._gymnastics?_" Bon looked at the teen, bewildered at the strange category. Rin grinned, pearly white teeth showing in the moonlight. "Yup."

"So you can do the splits? And a handstand?" He asked curiously. Rin sat up, giving him a sultry look. _Oh....._

"It means I'm _flexible._" His blue eyes were narrowed while his lips set in a smirk. The older teen felt a hot flush in his face and blood moving south. Damn, this guy was way too good. He went from self-hatred to hella sexy real quick. Bon swallowed and managed to say something back without stuttering or sounding like an idiot.

"Oh yeah? Why don't you show me just how flexible you can be?"

Rin grinned and crawled over to straddle the older teen sitting in the grass. He leaned forward to connect their lips in a rough kiss and Bon found out Rin had a tongue piercing. Just thinking about how that would feel in a different place had him shivering. One them moaned, possibly Bon, but he'd never admit it. Rin tangled his hands in the messy hair while his other hand ran down Bon's muscled chest. Bon had one hand on Rin's hip and the other slid up under his loose shirt, feeling up the hard muscles under smooth skin. They discarded their tops and continued where they left off, not able to get enough of each other.

Bon pulled away and moved down to Rin's neck, biting and licking at the skin there, determined to leave evidence of this night. Rin moaned out into the night air, grinding down onto his partner under him. Bon groaned against his neck and Rin gave a breathy laugh. He leaned forward and nibbled on the taller's ear, tugging on a hoop earring slightly. Said teen bucked up into him in response and they both moaned at the electrifying friction from the action.

Their bodies moved together under the twinkling night sky, with a chilly breeze blowing in from the north.

It was almost Autumn and the weather was getting colder, but that that didn't deter either of the teens as they lost themselves in the throes of lust and passion under the crescent moon. Their coupling kept them nice and toasty _all night._


	15. Fifteen

Groaning and shuffling.

At first, Suguro didn't know why those noises mattered so much. He was too happy to care. He grunted and pulled the body next to his closer.

Then he remembered they were in the Apocalypse and those noises meant the walking dead were near.

He bolted up, looking around the field they were in. Rin was next to him, grumbling about losing his heat source in the chilly morning air. They'd slept together last night out in the open, which was stupid, but at least they'd put their clothes back on after cleaning up. It was getting too cold to sleep naked outside, so at least they weren't _that_ stupid.

Undead shuffled towards them. The closest was only two feet away. Suguro tried to shake Rin awake, but the teen wouldn't budge. He cursed, slapping the boy across the face.

Rin groaned and turned towards him, teeth rotting and skin colorless. His blue irises were still clear in the hemorrhaged red sclera. He opened his mouth and bit into Suguro's side.

×××××××××××××××××××××××

Suguro sat straight up on the hilltop, breathing hard and sweating like he'd just run a marathon.

He looked frantically around. No zombies.

He looked down at the grumbling Rin. Still human. He shook him awake gently. Rin cracked open a vibrant blue eye. "Mornin' Ryuji." Rin gave a sleepy smile. At his first name, Suguro's face colored. He distinctly remembered Rin moaning that last night and pushed it out of his mind. It was a new day and they had work to do. No morning sex in the Apocalypse.

"Morning, Blue eyes. How'd ya sleep?" Suguro gave a soft smile and the walls around Rin's hardened heart were beginning to crumble. He was _not_ made for being a hardass, obviously. "Well, I had a top notch pillow, so pretty good. Were you okay?" Rin responded, grinning. Suguro snorted. "Yeah, I was fine. The grass is pretty soft." He shrugged.

Rin's smile widened as he rolled over onto his back. His smile froze on his face, however, when he saw the sky.

§~•~§~•~§

Izumo growled as she took down another walker. She'd nearly lost her weapon when it got lodged in the thing's ribcage. Her weapon was actually just a crowbar, but hey, it was really useful for dispatching corpses, so she wouldn't complain. She glanced back at Tsukumo, who was safe with Shura and Paku. Poor Paku looked helpless. She wanted to help, but she was a soft person by nature. She couldn't take down any of these corpses herself. But that didn't make Izumo resent her. Paku had stood with her through all the bullies and people who murmured things about Izumo's mother. Izumo wasn't going to give up her long-time best friend just because she was too sweet to kill these things.

They'd run into a heard. They'd made good ground after getting out of the bowl Inari was in. They had a map of Japan, stolen off a teacher's board in Izumo's highschool. They were doing surprisingly good for a group of girls with only two fighters.

Shura used her Sword to slice through the corpses cleanly, all the while keeping Tsukumo tucked safely away by her side with the other arm. A crowbar was a great weapon to bash skulls in, as Izumo had found out.

They dispatched the heard and kept going. The mountains would be hard to get through unless they found a better way.....


	16. Sixteen

_ **Three and a half months later....** _

Rin huffed as he climbed the snow covered hill.

He had no idea where he was in Japan. The map had been lost the day a radiation storm swept through Kyoto for the first time and acid rained down on them. It destroyed everything. Those who didn't get melted by the rain outside got Radiation Poisoning. That meant most of the kids, too. It was heart breaking. Rin had only been there for two weeks and then he'd watched it all get destroyed. The Safe Haven was gone. In it's place, a few broken people and one child left: Sachi.

People were scrambling everywhere. It took them too long to realize that the rain was killing them, along with the orange clouds. Rin had run out into the rain after making sure Suguro and his mother were safe. He did what he could, but he couldn't be everywhere at once.

People who were safe ran outside to grab those who weren't and ended up dying anyways. The children had been in the meadow. Rin bolted to them. Juzo and Mamushi were out there, ushering the kids inside, but they didn't understand. The children refused, not realizing they'd die if they stayed out there. The only one Rin could save was Sachi. He wrapped her in his coat. He'd grabbed Mamushi, because that was what Juzo would've wanted, and hoped Juzo had the sense to save the other kids.

He failed. Rin failed. Juzo died out in the rain, along with Yumi. Jun, Ten, Kensuke, Rukusuke, and Mamushi all died of radiation poisoning later. Before she'd died, Mamushi made Rin promise to protect Sachi and raise her to be strong. Rin had cried for an hour next to her corpse, holding the now orphaned baby Sachi.

Bon had come to comfort him and make him eat something.

Renzou lost his mother, sisters, sister-in-law, and his oldest brother that day. The only Shimas' left were him, Kinzou, and Sachi.

The Ryokan was destroyed. The only thing that _wasn't_ destroyed was the kitchen and a bathroom, which had solid walls, doors, and foundation. Everything else was melted.

Rin had to watch all these people, who had survived a whole year in the Apocalypse, get wiped out all at once.

He wasn't one to cry often or lose his shit, but this was way too much strain. He'd built walls, but they were made of broken stone and ductape. Rin was not made to be like Yukio. Yukio was strong, calculating, smart, and always suspicious of new things. He didn't trust people so easily.

Rin did. Rin wore his heart on his sleeve. His walls crumbled the more time he spent with Bon and Shima and Konekomeru and all the people at the Ryokan. He'd gotten too soft, dropped his guard. He'd forgotten not to get too attached. He'd let himself forget that this was the Apocalypse and nothing good could stay forever.

Rin had gotten into the kitchen where the only survivors were, given Sachi to Shima, fallen to his knees, and sobbed without caring that everyone could see him losing it. Bon immediately sat and hugged him. Shima was standing there staring at Sachi with disbelief. He looked at Mamushi, who was silently crying in a corner.

Things only got worse as most of the survivors died.

Now, months later, it was Winter. The remaining survivors were Rin, Bon, Renzou, Kinzou, Konekomeru, Sachi, and Torako.

Rin mainly led the group. It was easier to think about what everyone needed, not just himself. It was good for him to help them and keep them alive. It helped him not lose his mind.

"What month do you think it is?" Renzou asked from behind him. "I wish I knew! I turn seventeen in December!" Rin called back. "Oh? When's your birthday?" Konekomeru wondered. "I don't know my actual birthday, but we celebrated it on the 27th. Two days after Christmas." Rin answered. "Woah! So you could've been born on Christmas and have been celebrating the wrong day this whole time?!" Shima gasped. Bon snorted. "Or he could've been born in September and no one knew he existed until December and picked him up." He added. Rin chuckled. "That's true. Never really thought of it that way. Eh, I have no clue what month it is, so when Spring comes, I'll just assume I'm seventeen." He said.

"Hey, is that a building over there?" Torako pointed to a low, slate-grey slab of rock peeking out of the snow. Rin signalled for them to follow him and they made their way over to it. It _was_ a building. A small one, but big enough for them to have space to sleep.

Rin gestured for them to wait and opened the door carefully. He peeked inside, but it was dark. Even during the day, the sky was hazy and pale blue, not providing much light.

Rin handed Sachi to Bon, then creeped inside and felt around the wall. He walked slowly around the inside until he tripped over something. He heard a yelp and got up quick, sword already out and pointing in the direction of the sound.

Pale hands held themselves up. "Wait! I'm alive!" A girl's voice cried. Rin faltered. "Come into the light of the doorway." He ordered. He wasn't taking any chances. This girl could kill his whole group easily.

He backed up, sword pointed at her as she walked slowly forward. In the light, she was a short girl who looked to be around his age, maybe younger. Her long, pale blonde hair was tousled and messy. Her blue eyes were wide and terrified, fixed in the sword at her throat.

"What's your name?" Rin hissed. "Shiemi. I-I'm Shiemi Moriyama." She stuttered. "Do you have anyone with you?" Rin questioned. "N-No. My mother is....my mother is....." She choked up, tears gathering in her eyes. Oh geez. If she cries this easily, how had she made it this far in the end of the world?

"What have you done to survive?" Rin continued. "I'm good with plants. Grandmother told me to run and take food from her garden. I ran for a long time. At one point, I was with a group. They had a helicopter, but it crashed. I survived with a fractured wrist. The copilot got me out of the copter. We had no idea where we were. We wandered all around, but all we found was this place. I still had seeds, so I offered to grow them. He told me they'd die in the Winter and used a shovel to break theough the concrete floor. I have a small garden over in the corner." She stopped to point in the far left corner.

"I've been taking snow and melting it in a cup to water them. It's hard to grow plants without sunlight, so I hold them outside and wait for the sun to come out every day." She was spilling everything to him this easily and for a minute, Rin debated leaving her to die on her own. She was weak. She was alone bow and would probably die soon.

He frowned at his own train if thoughts and growled. "Stop talking." She shut up immediately, looking terrified. "Please don't kill me." She whimpered, tears beginning to gather again. Rin sighed and sheathed his sword. He walked back out the door to his crew. However, before they could go, the girl ran out and grabbed Rin desperately.

"Please! Please take me with you! Don't leave me here!" She sobbed. "What can you give us besides than another mouth to feed?" He demanded. "I don't have anything to give. But if you teach me, I can be strong! I swear! No one wanted to teach me to kill then at the old camp. They said they needed me to stay pure! I don't know what for, but I was kept weak there! Please, make me strong like you!" She begged on her knees, tears freely falling.

Rin looked down at her, his mind feeling somewhat numb. Another mouth to feed, another weak one to take care of. He'd already promised Mamushi he'd raise Sachi to survive. If he had to, he'd put her over everyone else in this group, including Suguro. As much as it hurt him, he couldn't let this weak little baby die in a world like this. He had to raise her to see the day humanity was alive again. If this girl dragged them down, it could put Sachi in danger. But he was soft on people like Shiemi.

"M'not strong." He grumbled. "Please! I know how to nurture plants! When the Spring comes, we can find a place to stay and eat fresh food! I still have seeds left, see?!" She pulled out a few little packets with shaky hands, almost dropping them in the snow. She was so small, and probably freezing in this snow in just that thin dress she was in. Her shoes were just some flimsy flats.

Rin sighed and wiped the tears away with his thumb. "First of all, these'll freeze on your face out here, so stop crying. Second of all, you have to be strong. Got it? You can't be weak like this anymore. You kill them and survive with us, and you don't look back." He told her sternly. She looked pathetic, but then her features steeled and she nodded.

"Good. You're one of us now, so you have to watch our backs while we watch yours. And if you backstab us, you're going to get an exclusive look at this sword while it goes through your throat. Understand?" Rin finished, pulling her to her feet. Her eyes widened and she nodded quickly.

"Alright. Everyone, this is Shiemi. Torako, could you give her something better to wear? We'll get her new shoes when we come across a store." Rin introduced the girl to the group. Torako nodded and looked through her bag.

Bon pulled Rin to the side while everyone was settling down.

"Are you okay?" He whispered. "I'm fine." Rin answered tersly. He was never a good liar and they both knew it.

Slowly, Bon's arms came to wrap around the teen holding the baby girl. "We're okay. For now, we're doing okay. I'm so sorry you had to watch everything at the Ryokan happen. It was horrible." Bon mumbled. Rin looked at him incredulously.

"How can you say that? Those were _your_ people. You _grew up_ with them. They were slaughtered by something that wasn't even zombies and you're apologizing to _me?_ You lost your people, Bon. I should be the one apologizing." Rin's voice was already strained. Why was this guy sorry for Rin when _he_ was the one who lost his home?!

"Because I promised you a Safe Haven and it was barely there to show you that we can still live freely even in this world. I got to live safe and sound this whole time. All of us did. But _you_ didn't. You survived out there after losing everyone. You fought to live every day, when you could've just killed yourself and let it all be over." Bon explained, hugging Rin and the baby closer.

Sachi giggled and played with Bon's shirt. Rin couldn't help but smile when he saw the baby so happy. She was so small and pure, and had no idea of the world she'd grow up in. She was a light in this world. She was hope.

Rin pressed a kiss to her forehead and sighed.

"What should we do? We don't know where we are." He wondered, looking unsure at Bon. "What did you plan to do before you met us?" The teen countered. "I wanted to find the coast, a dock. Sail to either an uninhabited island with resources and live there or America. In America, I think there could be people who survived. And there's a lot more space to move around. It's a big country and most likely has more resources than Japan." Rin admitted. That actually could work.....

"But fishing boats won't hold up that long and neither will a fancy yacht. Japan has a few American naval bases. I learned about it in history. If we can find a map, a complete map of Japan, I think I can remember where one is...." Bon trailed off, thinking hard. He knew there was one near Tokyo, but Rin had just come from there and it would take longer. The second one was at the edge of Japan and closer to Kyoto than Tokyo was. He just couldn't remember the name.

"Yeah, that could work. But wouldn't the bases be packed with military zombies?" Rin pointed out. "Maybe. Maybe they've all wandered out. But it's our best shot. I say we should go for it as soon as we find a map. We can't be that far from Kyoto, so finding where we are shouldn't be too hard." Bon was determined to make this work.

Rin nodded. "Okay. So we have a plan. It'll take long to walk regardless though...." He sighed. "Maybe we don't have to walk. Most people try to get to airports close to the mainland of Russia, the rest of Asia, and Europe because those countries are more formidable in these situations, so the roads should be clearer than in the West. Japan was probably one of the first to go down because it's so small. If we can find vehicles that will work and some gas, we can make it in a way shorter time period." Bon offered.

"Okay. Okay, that'll be good. So do we tell them?" Rin questioned. "I think we should. We should also ask the new girl if she knows the area at all too. She could be useful. She has to know something." Bon answered. Rin nodded and got up to join the others in eating-you guessed it!-_canned fucking beans._

Rin was sure he'd rather eat dirt than those damned beans. He'd escape them one day. But for now, he mashed some up and fed Sachi while also eating some himself and ignoring the miserable taste.


	17. Seventeen

"There. That's perfect." Shura pointed to a place on the map. It was labeled 'Sasebo Naval Base' at the edge of Japan.

"That's a long walk." Paku sighed. "We won't walk! We're out of the bowl, so we can find a durable truck or something and hotwire it. We'll need gas, but hopefully, that won't be a problem." Shura brushed it off. "It's the best thing we've got if we wanna get off this island. Fishing boats and such won't survive that long in the open waters. Big ol' ships at these bases can take some heavy hits." Shura explained.

"We won't know how to operate it?" Paku reminded her. "Well, there gotta be a manual somewhere." Shura countered. Tsukumo pointed to the naval Base and nodded. "You wanna ride in the big boats, Tsukumo?" Izumo asked gently. The little girl nodded. "Do you think we can make it, kiddo?" Shura asked seriously. With just as serious as an expression on Shura's face, Tsukumo nodded. "We can do it. Big sis can do anything! We just need instructions!" She insisted. Izumo couldn't believe she'd do this just because her sister thought it would work, but she had a feeling it just might. 

"Okay. We'll go to the naval Base and hope we can find manuals." She decided. Shura cheered while Paku looked nervous. "Look Paku, I feel like this will work. Please give it a chance?" Izumo asked the girl. Paku thought about it, then agreed. "Okay. This has to work out. We don't have a lot of options. I'm just worried." She fretted. Izumo hugged her as reassurance. "Everything will be alright. It took us a year to get out of that stupid city. Now we can move on." She assured.


	18. Eighteen

Yukio was still following his instincts. It had taken him a full year to remember. Remember his name, who he was, who the person in his memory was.

He needed to find Rin. Something told him his twin would be out of reach soon. Right now, it was chilly outside, with snow falling every once in a while. There was a lot of distance between Yukio and Rin.

Rin had apparently traveled very far from Tokyo.

Yukio couldn't wait to see him again. Couldn't wait to see his reaction when he found out he hadn't lost his only family. Couldn't wait to tell him that Yukio was immune, holy shit, he was immune!

He got lucky, honestly.

He was ready to see his bothers dark blue eyes and undoubtedly white hair by now.

Rin had always dyed it black, but without dye, his roots should be all white, just like when he was born. Rin's hair had lacked pigment when they were born and he was technically albino because he'd been so pale. But that was disproved as he got older and was able to stand the sunlight and his skin got tanner. Yukio missed seeing Rin's white hair when they were four. It was different. It was like the fact that they were opposites showed even physically.

But their adoptive father had quickly dyed it black and kept doing it so the kids would stop calling his son a freak at school.

Yukio hoped Rin was stronger. Hoped he was still the same Rin he knew when this all started. And he desperately hoped Rin wasn't on his own. He needed other people around him to keep him from spiraling down into his thoughts.

He checked the gas meter and sighed. He'd need more gas soon.

_Hold on, Rin. I'm coming._


	19. Nineteen

"Hey Rin? Why do you always have your hood up? Even inside it's always up." Konekomeru wondered.

Rin froze in place. Sachi whined for the bite of food near her mouth he was holding. He gave it to her and sighed.

"Personal reasons." He mumbled. "You can tell us anything and we literally can't judge you. I dyed my hair _pink!_" Shima pointed out. The teen shook his head in denial. "Aw, come on! The world already ended! It's not going to end again if you tell us about whatever it is!" Kinzou put in, now interested in what the boy was hiding as well. Rin ignored them, feeding Sachi more food.

Shima had now resorted to poking him until he gave in. Kinzou joined in. "We're not gonna stop until you tell us." Renzou grinned.

Rin made an annoyed noise and yanked the hood down.

White.

His hair was _white_.

"Woah! You're real hair color is white?! You dyed it black?!" Shima marveled. Rin grunted in affirmation. The top five inches of his hair was bright white. So white it almost looked blue.

"I was born with it. But in preschool, the kids made fun of me for it and I hated it, so my dad dyed it black. When I got older, I could've taken the color out, but I didn't want to. I was already a freak in my neighborhood. Wasn't gonna give them any more reasons to whisper about me behind my back." He said, feeding another bite to Sachi.

"Dude, your hair is _awesome!_" Shima grinned wide. "When the Spring comes, we should cut it." Torako put in. Rin frowned. He'd grown to love his long hair and held the braid to him defensively. "I'm sorry dear, but those corpses could easily grab it and the next thing we know, we've got no leader." She shook her head. "Leader? How am I your leader?" He asked.

"Rin, you're a pro at surviving out here. We're not used to this. We'd be dead by now if it weren't for you. We listen to you because you know how to live in these conditions. You know strategies for avoiding mobs of those things and you've taught us how to hunt animals. _You're the leader._" Konekomeru listed off all of the qualities.

"Oh. Okay. That makes sense." Rin agreed dumbly. Bon laughed and leaned over to press a kiss to the teen's temple. "We believe in you, so don't fail us, okay?" He murmured. Rin nodded hesitantly.

§~•~§~•~§

"Woah, I think Spring's gonna come early!" Kinzou said excitedly. They were walking outside in the snow once again. The temperature was slightly higher than the past few days. There was no snow falling and the sky was clear of grey clouds, pale blue and cold sunlight lighting the glittering snow.

They looked to where the blond man was pointing and saw a little white flower.

A daisy.

They all stared at it in a numb sort of wonder. It was so strange to see in the world as it was now. Freezing, snowy, unforgiving, silent except for the occasional stray groans and shuffling.

It was just a little flower. A tiny, innocent daisy, rising from the snow.

After all of this, all that had happened, Rin forgot there were still beautiful things left in the world. Natural beauty, from nature all around them, not just artificial lights and glowing neon signs and sparkly clothes and designer handbags and fast cars.

Flowers.

A daisy.

"Maybe you're right." Rin said quietly. He found a smile forming on his face before he began walking again.

Maybe they could live in this world without being scared. One day.

§~•~§~•~§

"What seeds do you have?" Rin asked Shiemi after everyone was asleep. He was rocking a sleeping Sachi in his arms, sitting by the fire they'd managed to light. The baby was snuggling into his warmth.

"Um, I have blueberries, bell peppers, cucumbers, and tomatoes." She answered. "I also saved some. Well, I actually had some in my apron before the....incident. I was just about to plant some new ones." Torako was apparently still awake. "I have some lettuce, squash, and eggplant." She informed them, pulling out little baggies of seeds labelled which ones were which.

"Okay. That's....that's a start. That's good. We can find a place to stay somewhere. A permanant place. We won't plant them unless I'm absolutely sure we can stay somewhere until this is all over. Got it?" He suggested. The two nodded and Rin looked down at Sachi. He was tired, but someone had to take watch.

"You sleep. I'll watch." Torako told him. He was about to object, but she held up a hand to stop him.

"I had my years of raising a baby. You need all the rest you can get if you're gonna raise her, honey." She gave him a knowing smile and he sighed. He laid down on his side next to Bon and made sure Sachi's head was pillowed on his arm.

Before he fell completely asleep, he felt Bon's arm wrap around him from behind and smiled, letting the warmth lull him to sleep.

§~•~§~•~§

"Is the snow melting?" Renzou pointed out.

He was right. There was less snow than the day before by the time they woke up.

"Hey, I can kind of feel my feet!" Shiemi cried happily.

Rin smiled. Finally, things were looking up.

As they walked that day, they had renewed energy from the hope of warm Spring days ahead. They noticed more patches of flowers.

Shiemi picked some and began weaving them into something as they walked. Torako followed suit and joined Shiemi in weaving the flowers together. By mid-afternoon, they both placed flower crowns on Rin and Sachi's head. Rin laughed as the baby made happy cooing noises. He tried to teach her the names of things while they walked.

"Was da?" She gasped, pointing. "That's a rock. Say 'rock.'" Rin told her. "Roc?" She repeated. "Good girl." He cooed.

"Was da?" She gasped again, pointing at a patch of daisies. "Flowers."

"Fowa?"

"Yes."

Bon stepped up to walk beside them. "Who's this, Sachi?" He pointed to Rin. "Papa!" She giggled. Rin's eyes widened while Renzou sputtered behind them. "Hey man, check it out! We're brothers now!" He joked.

"Wh-But I'm not–!" Rin stuttered. "Nah, just let her. We'll tell her about her parents when she's old enough to remember. But you're her Papa now. Let her have that." Bon put a hand on his shoulder. Rin looked unsure but sighed when Sachi repeated the title and pointed at him.

"Papa!" Sachi pointed at Bon next and it was his turn to freak out. "What?!"

Torako laughed loudly at her son's reaction. "Even the baby." She laughed.

Rin smirked. "And now _you_ have to stick with it too." He snickered. "Papa!" Sachi cheered while pointing at Bon. "There's no escaping it now, is there?" He chuckled nervously.

"Nope!"

§~•~§~•~§

Yukio was nearly to him. He could feel his brother near him. Somewhere. He was going through a town and decided to sleep in a secured basement. He needed to refill the gas tank in the morning and set out early. He was _so close!_

He couldn't wait to see Rin! 

He'd been surrounded by the bodies for so long, feeling so lost.

So alone.

But not anymore! By the day after tomorrow at the latest, he would reach his twin brother and they could reunite!


	20. Twenty

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It took me a long time to actually come up with the plot of this story and a goal for the characters to strive towards, so whoops! But now that I know what I'm doing, it's a lot easier to write these chapters out. I'm also trying to at least complete book 1 before school gets hectic.

Thank all that is Holy!

The girls had found a truck. It wasn't super sturdy like they would've liked, but it worked and they had enough gas, so that was a plus!

By the next day and a half, they'd be there! Izumo really hoped their were manuals on how all of those ship controls worked. And that they had enough people for a crew to run the thing.

It would be hard and they'd need to stockpile food if there wasn't any on the ship.

They were riding on luck, which was a stupid thing to do in the Apocalypse, but all they needed was just a little stroke of good luck. 

Izumo didn't know who she was praying to, but she hoped there was someone up there to listen and grant her wish. They needed this.

§~•~§~•~§

"We can't scale that gate, it has barbed wire across the top!" Paku cried. 

"Pfft, gimme your jackets!" Shura demanded. They reluctantly gave them to her and she wrapped them around her. Then she began to climb. She scaled the security gate, got over the stop with only shredding the jackets and a few cuts, and pressed the button to open the gates.

They entered Sasebo Naval base and began to ravaged it for supplies.

§~•~§~•~§

There was still plenty of supplies, not to mention actual mattresses to sleep on! It was Heaven. 

There are plenty of clean uniforms and undershirts to wear. They found several med kits and used some stitching supplies to sew a jacket out of a military uniform for Tsukumo. Shura cut up an undershirt and made it basically a crop top with a low neckline and cut some uniform pants into booty shorts. She also found combat boots in her size. 

Paku wore the full uniform. It was surprisingly comfortable.

Izumo cut pants into capris and folded them at the bottom. Then she cut the sleeves off a shirt and tied a sleeve around her head as a headband. She used a hairtie she'd found in some cadet's old bathroom and tied her hair back in a ponytail.

They kept looking into store rooms and cadet barracks and Captain's Quarters for supplies. The stacked it all on the dock where they'd load it onto a Destroyer. The ship was huge!

No wonder it took such a big crew!

The weapons could come in handy if anything unexpected happened too. They'd thankfully found backup manuals for a situation that all commanding officers were down and only cadets were left. It instructed them on how to run the ships and the Jets on some of the ships! It was perfect!

Right now, they had a ton of supplies and were almost ready to board the ship. 


	21. Twenty-one

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is a really long chapter y'all.

Yukio observed the silent camp from behind a snow bank. The group was smart and had someone on watch while the others slept. It was a boy with black hair dyed pink at the ends.

He decided the best approach was direct.

He walked out from behind the snow bank so the boy could see him clearly. He was on instant alert and drew a knife, watching Yukio advance uneasily.

"Stop there!" He ordered. Yukio obediently stopped. He put his hands up in a placating gesture and to show he wasn't holding any weapons. Without taking his eyes off of Yukio, the boy called to someone.

"Rin! Rin, there's a random guy in front of me, wake up!" He called. Yukio's heart jumped at the name. Was it _his_ Rin? His _brother?_ He hoped so, he missed his big brother. He missed having Rin as a constant reassuring presence by his side since all this crazy stuff started. He was trying to make you for all the years before spent with him being horrible to Rin. A voice grumbled and Rin sat up, holding a baby and trying to rock her back to sleep as her eyes blinked open.

"What is it?" He wondered groggily. Shima nodded to Yukio and Rin just stared.

"So....So he's not imaginary? I'm not just seeing this?" Rin asked the boy. The boy quirked a brow and shook his head. "Rin! Rin, it's Yukio! I'll explain if you'll let me! Please?" Yukio wanted nothing more than to hug his older brother and explain how he survived.

"I....what is.... I don't even....fine. Shima, put the knife down. It's-It's okay." Rin looked so confused.

Yukio came closer and dropped to his knees next to his twin. Rin's hair was white at the top and still black the bottom. It had grown long and was braided out of the way.

"Oh thank God!" Yukio hugged Rin fiercely, but made sure not to disrupt the baby. "A-Are you really Yukio?" Rin's voice wavered.

"Yes. I started rotting after I was bitten. But then it reversed! I had no memory for a while. I just remembered what you looked like. Then I remembered you were important to me! And finally, I remembered everything else. It took so long to come back from that! I....I'm pretty sure I'm immune!" Yukio explained we hastily. Rin's free arm came up to hug him back.

"I left you there. All this time. I thought you were dead and I was alone for _so long._" Rin's voice cracked. "But! I was found! By these people! And–And they saved me! And I wasn't alone anymore and it was great, but then a radiation storm came through and it destroyed everything and now there's just us left and Mamushi asked me to raise her baby to be strong and we have no idea where we are right now because we lost the map months ago and–" Rin just kept talking. "Shh, shh, it's okay. It's okay Rin. I'm not dead. I'm right here." Yukio assured him as the older clutched onto the back of his coat. It wasn't his doctor's coat. He'd learned his lesson. Besides, that coat had been torn to shreds a long time ago. He was wearing a Hunter's jacket he'd taken from a store somewhere along the way to find Rin.

"So this is the brother you thought was dead?" The boy from before butted in. "Yes. This is Yukio. He's my little brother." Rin answered. "We're twins, it doesn't matter." Yukio rolled his eyes. "Yes it does! I'm older!" Rin declared.

There was more grumbling from behind Rin and Rin glanced down at the sleeping teen behind him with a smile. He leaned down.

"Bon. Bon, wake up. I have to tell you something important." Rin whispered with the softest smile Yukio had over seen him give anyone. When the boy named Bon grumbled and his eyes fluttered open to peer up at him, Rin grinned and placed a kiss on his lips and Yukio was somewhat shocked. He'd never seen Rin this happy. He'd also never dreamed Rin would date a guy, but! To each their own. The world ended, it didn't matter anymore. There were no laws keeping Same-Sex couples apart. Yukio thought the freedom was nice.

The boy named Bon sat up and pressed another short kiss to Rin's lips, setting his chin on Rin's shoulder. "This is my brother. Yukio." Rin told him. "The one you thought was dead?" Bon quirked a brow. "Ow!" And he was slapped on the back of the head by an older woman who looked like him. Most likely his mother.

"Don't mind him. I'm Torako. Pleased to meet you." She introduced herself. Everyone was awake now and introduced themselves excitedly as the sun rose.

§~•~§~•~§

So you were in a town a few miles back? Did it have any maps?" Rin asked his twin. "I didn't look for any. Why?" Yukio answered. "We've made a plan and we've already told everyone else. But we need two things. A map and transportation that can get us there soon. Walking is great for exorcise, but we're gonna look like stick people by the time we get there if we walk all the way." Rin told him.

"Ah. Where are you going to go?"   
"An American Naval Base. We have enough people to operate it and there should manuals in case of emergency there. We can get away from Japan. Bon and I are thinking of going to America. It's bigger with more people that are most likely infected, but it's also more room to run around. Plus, we can still run into Canada if we need to. What do you think?" Rin explained, turning to look at his twin.

"That sounds pretty solid. And there might be a map in the small school I saw in the town. A map of Japan. Hopefully, it labels the naval base you need to find." Yukio admitted. "I have a military truck, it's how I got here so fast from Tokyo. Me, you, and a couple others can go and scavenge whatever's there." Yukio suggested. Rin nodded.

"Alright. Shima, I'm leaving Sachi here with you. Me, Yukio, Bon, and Kinzou will go to the town and see what we can find. Got it?" After a nod of affirmation, they walked the short distance to the truck Yukio had parked a ways away.

They drove in silence. Rin had no idea what the others were thinking, but he was thinking of how much work they had ahead of them. Operating a huge weaponized ship all the way to America was a big thing to do. It would be difficult. And because Rin was the leader of the group, he'd probably be made captain.

If they even had enough people.

He didn't even realize he was biting his lip until Bon placed a thumb over his lips. Rin blinked and looked at him in question. "You're going to split it if you keep doing that." The other teen said softly. Rin tried for a smile, but he wasn't fooling anyone. Bon could _see_ the nervous energy just buzzing inside the younger boy.

He intertwined their fingers and Rin relaxed some. "We'll be fine. It's a lot to do, but we can make it work. We know what we're doing." Bon promised, pressing a kiss to Rin's temple.

Yukio watched them in the mirror and sighed. Rin was better at relationships after the work ended. He didn't want the feeling to be there, but Yukio almost felt replaced. Rin had been alone until just a few months ago. He'd found these people and he had something more to lose now. He treated them like a family. He even had a baby to raise. Someone who barely knew him actually trusted him enough to raise their child after they died.

And now, Rin had Bon. Bon treated Rin how no one else did–like he was precious, something go protect, but not fragile. Bon knew Rin could handle himself, but he made sure Rin knew he didn't have to do everything by himself anymore. Yukio felt replaced by Bon, but Bon meant more than a brother to Rin. Bon was more like a lover.

Yukio had been cruel to Rin for years until the world ended. Then, they had to set their differences aside and fight to survive together. And the problem had never been Rin. It was always Yukio pushing him to argue with him. Always Yukio telling him he should be better. They were always compared and Rin was always seen as the screw up.

Until now. Now, Rin was better than Yukio. Rin was smart. Rin could fight. Rin could be by himself for an entire year and still not lose his mind.

Rin could even somehow find love in this world.

Textbooks and high exam scores did nothing for people in this world. Yukio had to learn to shoot guns and use knives to dispatch corpses trying to eat him. He only got to his brother now because of his immunity.

He'd insisted on wearing that damned coat. Rin had told him to get rid of it and he hadn't and if he wasn't immune, Rin would have no brother right now.

But that would be okay. Because now, Rin had people to take care of. People to protect, and feed, and train to defend themselves. He had a new family. One that really cared about him.

And here Yukio was, being jealous of someone who seems to deserve Rin's love and affection even though he has no right to be.

"Hey. You okay?" The blond in the passenger seat next to him–Kinzou?–tapped his shoulder. Yukio snapped out of his thoughts and glanced at the man. "Ah, yes. Sorry. Just thinking." He gave a half-smile. The blond grinned. "Yeah, I can understand that. We've got a lot to do now that we actually have a plan. But it'll be fine. As long as we stick together and learn how to survive out here, we'll be fine even if we get separated."

"I feel like I'm intruding. I was incredibly happy to finally see my brother again after a year of being half-dead. But you guys already have a pretty close-knit family." Yukio said honestly. Kinzou sighed. "Well, we actually found Shiemi a few days ago. Poor girl. Rin coulda left her there to freeze and probably die of starvation. Almost did. But he saw strength in her and we took her in." Kinzou informed him.

"It takes a bit, but you'll settle in with us. We've already got our leaders and they're pretty good ones. Though it's really funny how they've already got a kid to raise. Sachi's actually mine and Renzou's niece but I have no idea how to raise a kid, so I'm kinda glad Rin's the one doing it." The man chuckled. He seemed to like talking, so Yukio sat back and let him.

"You know, Rin cried for hours after we lost most of our people? He was so sad and I had no clue why. He'd literally been with us for only two weeks. He _really_ cried over Mamushi. Mamushi and my older brother were Sachi's parents. She'd been born about five months into this whole thing. We had a great place to stay and live normally. We lost all our leaders and most of our men. Bon stepped up in his dad's place–his dad was the head priest, you know? He took care of all of us and we scavenged supplies from the city below us. He was doing pretty damn good even though most of his people were older than him." Kinzou's continuous story telling was surprisingly soothing, so Yukio listened intently.

"We were doing great. Rin was starting to help watch the kids and pick herbs and cook in the kitchens. He seemed really happy to be with us. We haven't met a single new person since this started. Then they found Rin. He was in the middle of a mob of those things. He wasn't going down easy, either. Bon, Juzo–my big bro, Mamushi, and my big sister Jun jumped in and helped him. You know what he did when he saw them?" Kinzou grinned.

"What?" Yukio was really interested now. "Punched me in the gut when I asked him who he was. Bolted to the inside of a building and hid in the doorway." Bon grunted. "Guys!" Rin complained.

"Yeah! And then, when they were walking back, first he collapsed. Then he woke up, tried to walk, threw up, and then pretty much passed out again. Slept for a while, even after they made it back to the Inn." Kinzou kept going. "Oi, stop making fun of my bad luck!" Rin punched Bon on the shoulder for laughing. "Hey, I'm the one that Princess Carried you up a fucking mountain." He defended himself.

"He was a total mystery to us! He was a random guy with pretty blue eyes and wicked skills with a samurai sword. He was kinda shy at first, but he cozied up to Bon real quick." Kinzou pointed out. "Oi! Why're you diggin' at _me_ now?!" Bon slapped the blonde upside the head. "What?! You can't tell me that the reason you ran in from the hills that last day wasn't because you spent the night together!" Kinzou grinned. Both of the teens' faces burned. "What does that matter?!" Rin managed. Yukio snickered. "Couldn't even get friends before, but you can get ass on the Apocalypse. Typical." He snickered. Rin gasped. "Betrayal!"

"He is right though. That's the conversation that started the whole thing. You said your brother was good-looking and you were only okay looking and I kept saying you were hot." Bon added.

"I think they're both hot." Kinzou said unashamedly. Both brothers protested, but the two Kyoto boys shut them up. "Nope, you're hot, get used to it." Kinzou flashed a smile at Yukio who flushed and begrudgingly went back to focusing on finding his way back to the town. They finally arrived and hopped out of the vehicle.

"Alright, I'll go with Bon, you go with Kinzou." Rin ordered, scanning the area around them. "I mean, you guys just found each other again, don't you think–mph?" Kinzou was cut off by Rin's hand covering his mouth. "I know what I'm doing." He grinned knowingly and walked off with his boyfriend.

Oh that sneaky little–

"Alright, let's check the elementary school. Hopefully, there should be a full map of Japan somewhere." Yukio suggested. They walked to one of the bigger buildings. It didn't look too damaged, but they could only see the walls. They had no idea if the floor had fallen in or something like that. Yukio counted off silently before kicking the door in and checking both sides of the hallway. Kinzou followed behind him at his signal.

They went down the hallways and through multiple classrooms.

"Who keeps an entire outfit in their teacher closet?" Kinzou raised a brow at the strange find.

"I have no clue, but there are some pretty good books in here." Yukio answered. "Good, we'll have something to burn in the fire tonight." Kinzou continued searching the teacher's closet. Yukio made an indignant noise behind him. "These books are from the world we left behind a you wanna destroy them?!" He gasped. "Yukio, the world is still the world. It's just resetting. New ones will be written when the world bounces back." Kinzou rolled his eyes. "You really think the world can come back from this?" Yukio wondered. "Of course! Humans are like cockroaches. Annoyingly resilient and always able to come back with a bang if ya can't get ride of the originals." The blond said easily.

"What are you doing now?" Yukio looked him in confusion as he stripped his shirt off. When he began unbuttoning his pants, the teen gave a barely audible squeak and turned around. "Hey, whoever's clothes these were fit me and I ain't passing up a chance for new clothes. You can only clean up so much with a limited supply of baby wipes." Kinzou responded, pulling on the spotless clothes. For a teacher, they were surprisingly casual–blue jeans, a white T-shirt, a blue plaid button down, and cowboy boots. He snorted at the boots. This guy must've been a fan of Western culture. Cowboy boots were expensive.

"You can turn around now, darlin." He said, just to mess with the guy. Yukio turned around, confused as to why the nickname, but burst out laughing once he saw the boots. "Oh my god." He laughed. Kinzou chuckled and did and exaggerated strut over to the teen like he'd seen in old Western movies.

"Nice. You're just missing one thing." Yukio pulled a handgun and pressed it into the blond's hand. "There. It's not exactly the classic revolver, but it works well enough." He admitted. "Kinda wish I had a hat now." The man admitted.

"Heh. That'd really complete the look. I'm pretty sure I looked like a badass scientist in the beginning of all this." Yukio commented. "How would you accomplish that?" Kinzou wondered. "Eh, we took some supplies from police stations in our area. I usually had all black clothes and then add the suspender holsters cops always had and a white doctors coat. That white coat actually got me killed." Yukio told him. "That's _does_ sound badass. Wonder if we can find you some new clothes. Yours are pretty worn too." Kinzou noted.

"New clothes would be wonderful. But I'd rather not dress like a Country Boy from Alabama." Yukio snorted, poking Kinzou's chest for emphasis. "Aw, what's wrong, darlin? Do I look too good for you to handle? Can't keep your hands off me?" Kinzou faked a western accent and grabbed the teen's hand, pulling Yukio against him.

He coaxed the boy into a spin and they danced somewhat haphazardly around the classroom, dodging desks.

"Kinzou, we have a job." Yukio reminded him, though he was smiling. "Alright fine." The man sighed dramatically and caught Yukio off guard by dipping him and then pulling him back up.

§~•~§~•~§

"Are you seriously trying to get your brother and Kinzou to be a thing?" Bon asked. "Yes. I trust Kinzou with my baby brother." Rin answered. "Isn't he only a couple minutes younger?" Bon pointed out. "Yes, but that still makes me older. I gotta look out for my little brother. He's more textbook smarts than street smarts. I observe everything around me, especially people. He observes objects and is absolutely horrible about reading the atmosphere. He's not much of a people person." Rin explained, looking through the drawers in the Police cheif's desk for anything useful.

"Wow. So you guys are polar opposites? That's gotta be tough." Bon noted. "Mhm. But I got something good put of this hell on Earth." Rin added, santering up to his boyfriend with a telling smile. "Oh? And what's that?" Bon asked, just to humour the shorter teen as he wrapped his arms around the taller's neck. "I got me a boyfriend, a daughter, and a bunch of brothers." Rin responded, leaning up to press a kiss to Bon's lips. "Mm. And a mom." Bon hummed between kisses. Rin laughed. "Yes, and a mom." He agreed. The kissing was turning more into making out when they heard crashing and the ground shook slightly. They looked at each other, suddenly seious, and took off running. Rin tore theough the desks and through the doors. The roof of the school collapsed in.

They shared one more look before running towards the school.

§~•~§~•~§

In a surprising turn of events, the roof of the school collapsed and a hunch of undead children descended upon Yukio and Kinzou.

It wasn't fun to shoot down little kids, no matter if they were trying to eat you or not. They must've gone up to the roof to get rescued and somebody was bitten. Turned, bit a kid, then everyone was turned.

"This'll be in my nightmares." Yukio said. "I don't think we're going to _have_ nightmares tonight. Even if you don't get bit, this whole place is coming down!" Kinzou told him, batting the corpses away with a staff. Yukio gritted his teeth. He'd finally found his brother and a group to travel with who actually had a decent plan and now he's going to die in a god damned elementary school, shooting down zombie children. Fantastic.

Neither of them expected Rin to literally _break through_ the wall and start slicing and dicing undead like an actual samurai. Bon came in behind him with handguns. When he ran out of bullets, he simply beat the crap out of the undead with the guns themselves. Yukio stood there for a moment, frozen in shock, before jolting back nto action, shooting him and Kinzou a path to the collapsed roof. "Rin! Go up! They can't!" He yelled. He and Kinzou scaled the collapsed roof with the help of the concrete screws and made it to a not collapsed area of the roof.

"Yukio! The floor's going out too! Wait for us up there!" Rin called up. Yukio watched in horror as the floor creaked and groaned before collapsing, taking the corpses and Rin and Bon with it. They heard splashes and more shouting.

Both Yukio and Kinzou peered down into the dark hole.

"They'll be okay. Rin's like a cockroach." Yukio stated. He was surprisingly calm about this. "Huh. Bon's not that resilient, but now he's kinda got a daughter to take care of too, so I think he knows he has to come back. That, and Rin will probably drag him all the way back if he has to." Kinzou agreed. They sat there in a state of peace before they heard Rin yell several curse words and finally, they'd stacked enough dead bodies to climb out of the hole.

Rin and Bon flopped on the ground outside the school and groaned. Yukio and Kinzou made their way down via the windows and air conditioning units.

"We didn't find a map. You?" Rin panted, still catching his breath. "Yup! Schools are a lot more likeable in the Apocalypse!" Kinzou said brightly. Rin gave a huff of laughter. "Well, our clothes are soaked and it's still pretty cold outside. We need to get back. Also nice clothes Kinzou." Rin said.

§~•~§~•~§

They made it back to everyone in once piece and with the map. Rin had found a change of clothes, though it was a police uniform. He'd even put on the formal white gloves that went with it. The uniform combined with the Katana now sheathed at his side made him look like an exteremely dangerous cop.

Bon got lucky. The military truck had a uniform in a compartment that fit him pretty well. He changed into that. So now, they had Yukio in simple black clothes, Cowboy Kinzou, Policeman Rin, and Military Officer Bon.

All that was left to do was find a second vehicle that could carry the rest of the group and they'd be at that Naval Base in no time.


	22. Twenty-two

They found a bus. Not a school bus, but one of the expensive charter busses.

"Alright, who's ready to rock?" Kinzou grinned at them from the driver's seat. Everyone had chosen various places to sit in the bus. Yukio in the front with Kinzou and Torako. Shima, who was on baby duty, in the middle with Shiemi cooing over the little girl. Rin and Bon in the back cuddling.

The man started up the bus and they were on their way to a Naval Base they now knew was Sasebo Naval Base.

"I'm surprised you didn't sit with your brother." Kinzou said. "I'd rather not be stuck as a third- wheel, thank you. And besides, no one gets any real personal time to themselves anymore." Yukio sighed.

"Are you jealous?" The blonde wondered cheekily. "Why would I be jealous?" Yukio asked. "You used to be the most important thing to Rin and now he's found someone to love in the End of the World." Kinzou offered easily.

Yukio frowned. "Is it that obvious?" He muttered, leaning closer to the man. Kinzou laughed. "Nah. I feel that. Juzo–Sachi's dad–kinda left me and Renzou behind after he married Mamushi. Yeah, it took them years to get together finally, but it hurt a lot more than we thought it would when he left the house. Then they were having a kid and the end of the world happened and everything went sideways. It got messy." Kinzou told him.

"We never got to say goodbye to him." The blonde said softly. Yukio didn't offer an "I'm sorry." like most people would've. It was appreciated. You can't be sorry if you weren't even there to experience it.

"We'd been fine until that radiation cloud and the acid rain. I guess it took a while to get all the way up the mountain, huh? One minute, we were all doing chores and the kids were playing outside and the next, Rin is running to the kids and grabbing Sachi and Yumi. Juzo followed his lead, but Rin was barely fast enough to save Sachi. He wrapped her in his clothes to protect her." Kinzou kept his eyes on the road as he recounted that horrid day. The day he still had nightmares about.

"Rin was trying to tell everyone to stay in solid rooms, but everyone was too busy panicking to listen. We lost most to the rain, watched them melt like candles." Yukio's stomach lurched uncomfortably at the comparison. God, human beings got melted by acid and had no idea what was even happening. 

"Over the next few days, more and more people died from radiation poisoning. Mamushi died with Rin by her side. She wanted to see Sachi one last time, but refused to expose the baby and kill her. She made Rin promise he'd train her to be strong. That he'd protect her. He didn't even think before promising it, either. Cried for hours over the whole fiasco. Only ones left were us all. He's tried to apologize several times for not being faster to warn us, but it's really not his fault." Kinzou smiled plainly at the thought. This blue-eyed, katana-wielding Japanese boy stumbled into Kyoto, sick as a dog and fighting off an entire mob of undead that was surrounding him–and then tried to apologize for something he couldn't control. It was almost funny.

"Where was he, at the time? Before he ran to help, I mean?" Yukio wondered. Kinzou's smile turned into a sharp grin. "Y'know, I saw him run down from a hill and then saw Bon run down right after and I can only suspect what they were doing up there and why they wanted that privacy. Never gonna ask about it though. That's _their_ business." The blonde laughed at Yukio's disgusted expression. "Hey, gotta find _some_ way to have fun in the Apocalypse." Kinzou winked at the teen. The cowboy outfit combined with his personality just made him seem like a dorky Westerner and Yukio found his face going red. He never wanted to think of his brother sleeping with someone.

"Stop giving away our secrets, John Wayne!" Rin shouted from the back of the bus. "Okay, how can you hear from all the way back there?!" The man yelled back, narrowing his eyes. "Dunno, but I can and I have a sword and an axe that you've never Introduced yourself to, so watch it, Blondie!" Rin answered. Bon laughed at his boyfriend's antics. He placed a kiss on Rin's cheek and the teen scoffed. "I'm trying to threaten someone, stop that!" He complained. "You love my kisses, fuck you." Bon grumbled planting another one next to Rin's eye. "You already did, but I wouldn't mind another go." He answered casually. He didn't even have to look at the older boy's face to know it was red and grinned triumphantly.

Kinzou started singing some inappropriate American song that mention something like "Marvin Gaye" and "get it on." Yukio didn't even want to know half the stuff Americans listened to.

"Hey, Torako! Do you think you could take over?" Kinzou called. The woman nodded and made her way to the front. Kinzou got up, grabbed Yukio and began to sway in a vague motion of slow dancing. The teen had no idea what to do, so he just went with it. He didn't mind so much positive attention from the blonde.

Then Kinzou began to sing the song he'd been singing. Rin laughed and joined in. Yukio had almost forgotten that American music was how Rin learned English and spoke it so well. Of course he knew the song Kinzou was singing.

The pair swayed down the aisle and then suddenly, Kinzou dipped Yukio into one of the seats. He planted a quick kiss on the teen's lips and then winked before pulling him back up. Because his mind was so occupied with the stilen kiss, Yukio didn't notice the look on Rin's face.

Rin didn't see the kiss, but he knew. He had a smug grin on his face as Kinzou danced with his twin. Before he could turn to Bon to tell him of his new discovery, the bus lurched. Rin was out of his seat in a second. Kinzou and Yukio had fallen into a bus seat with the Blonde on top of the teen, who's face was flaming red.   
"Did we hit a corpse or someth–Woah!" The bus jerked again as it kept rolling and Rin smacked his head on the windshield. Another jerk and he stumbled backwards.

Bon was worried about what was happening and Shiemi was clinging onto Shima and Konekomeru. Bon looked out the window and furrowed his brows. He couldn't see anything that could be attacking them. No zombies around. Actually, that in itself was strange.

Just as he went to mention this to Rin, who was coming back to him, the bus lurched and Rin flew backwards, out through the windshield. He rolled on the ground and groaned, getting up. He was lucky nothing was broken or dislocated, though he'd sustained little cuts on his face along with pieces of glass lodged in his skin from.wjen they went up his clothes. So.dhow, the uniform itself wasn't damaged. Just a bit dirty.

He ignored the pain and looked around him, but all he could see were cracks in the ground.

His eyes widened as another tremor rocked the ground and it split close to him. He looked back at the bus where Bon was trying to get to him and began to sprint back to it when he was yanked back suddenly.

"Hey, Demon Boy." A voice greeted in his ear. He immediately growled and threw an elbow back. He missed and his arms were being restrained his two more guys.

"What the hell?! Reiji, what is this?! How did you get all the way out here?!" Rin demanded. A third guy unsheathed Kurikara and looked it over. While Reiji gave him a menacing grin, examining a grenade in his hand–he'd probably used grenades to make it seem like there was an earthquake. "Huh, pretty sword." He admired it. "Yeah, that's a fact. Wanna know another one? That sword is mine, so keep your nasty hands off it!" Rin snapped, struggling against the guys restraining him. He glanced back at the bus and saw more men near it, holding guns.

"Why are you in a police uniform? That's pretty ironic, don't you think?" Reiji laughed. "_I'm_ not the one who went to a Juvenile Detention Center, asshole!" Rin answered. "Nah, but you should've been in there with the rest of us, _Half-Breed._" He sneered the words.

"I'm not surprised you're half Russian _mutt._ You're tiny, but you could beat up seven guys at once. Earned yourself the nickname of Demon long before your fighting days though." Reiji continued, walking in a circle around the teen. He stopped in front of Rin and grabbed his jaw.

"Still have that scar I gave you, Demon?" He grinned. He turned Rin's head to the side and pushed the hair aside to reveal a thin scar on the edge of Rin's jaw. "Yeah, you clipped me with your gun because you're a little bitch who can't take _playground insults._" Rin snarled. He glanced again at the bus. Yukio was watching the whole thing with both horror and anger. Rin caught his eye and raised a brow. Yukio frowned, but nodded.

"Shut up! You disrespected me and you got what you deserved for it!" Reiji shouted, yanking Rin's head up by his hair. "Oooh, I'm so big and bad, I can abuse people that are incapacitated." Rin mocked further. He wasn't one for big words, but he knew some good ones. Reiji growled and held a knife threateningly close to Rin's face.

"Tokyo got overrun. So I made my way in a random direction and ran into these guys. They respect me just like my other crew did. They know a King when they see one."

Rin laughed loudly. "Are you kidding me?! You?! A King?! All of your people would die of starvation and poverty, you stupid commie-wannabe!" Rin gasped out. He got a boot to the face for his comment. "Worth it." He winced, spitting out blood from biting his tongue. Another kick, this time on his shoulder, pushing him backwards into the dirt.

"Man, you really are a glutton for getting the shit kicked out of you, huh?" Reiji chuckled. "Come on man, I just got this uniform." Rin complained. He caught the next kick and pulled Reiji down, rolling on top of him and pulling a knife from his sleeve to hold it at the teen's throat.

"All of you, now!" He yelled Everyone in the bus but Torako jumped out of the space left behind by the now-shattered windshield with war cries. They mostly landed on top of people. Kinzou landed in between two dudes and clotheslined them, taking them down at the same time with a loud "HAAA!" Yukio was almost too distracted by the blond Cowboy to take out the guy in front of him. Rin snickered. His brother was apparently digging Kinzou's macho-ness.

Even Shiemi took a guy out. She had surprising strength for such a sweet girl. She did the roundhouse kick Rin taught her and caught the guy hard in the temple, effectively knocking him out. He grinned at her proudly. Shima and Konekomeru each took out one guy, then double teamed the last one. Bon simply used his brute strength to knock two guys heads together.

"Are you serious?! You had guns!" Reiji shreiked. Rin's knife pressed harder against his neck, a drop of blood welling up under the blade. "I decided _not_ to storm your base once when you captured and _assaulted_ us. Even after you sent that horde our way and _destroyed our base,_ I didn't come for you. I left Tokyo to find a better place to live in the End of the World by myself and _left you alone._ And you had the _gall_ to come out here and _try to kill me?_" Rin's dead-calm voice was even scarier than if he was yelling.

He stood straight suddenly and gave his group a serene smile. Yukio shivered. He hated that smile. "Somebody cover Shiemi's eyes, this won't be pretty." He told them in a sickly sweet voice.  
Shima covered the blonde's eyes and Torako turned baby Sachi to face her chest.

Rin turned back to Reiji, who hadn't bothered to run. He unsheathed his katana and laid multiple slashes in quick succession. Reiji's skin burst open and blood poured from small gashes everywhere. His arms, his chest, his torso, his legs.

"We're gonna do this the old fashioned way. First," Rin sheathed the katana and reached back to grab the axe that Yuki handed him, knowing what his brother wanted. He aimed the blade at Reiji's left wrist.

"We cut off the hands that hurt so many and stole so much from others that didn't deserve it." With a quick down motion, Reiji's left wrist was separated from his body.

Rin did the same with his left hand and moved on to his feet, ignoring the screams if pain. Reiji blubbered out words, behind Rin to stop, but he was on a role. He _demanded_ revenge.

He chopped off the boy's feet easily. Then he looked around, noting that corpses slowly shambling over to them. Reiji's screams had brought them here.

Perfect.

He walked back to the bus. The windshield was shattered and some of it was in his skin, which still stung, ow. Bon was the first to follow after him and Yukio was the second. The others were hesitant, but got back in the vehicle.

They drove in silence before someone spoke.

"Um, Rin?" Konekomeru's feeble voice spoke up. Rin looked at him, prearing himself to be kicked out of the group and left on his own again. He'd understand. No one wanted someone that could do what he'd done in their group.

"Did he deserve it?"

Rin froze. He blinked.

"Depends on what you think he'd have to have done." He answered, voice unsteady. Bon's arm tentatively encircled him and pulled him closer. Rin stayed rigid.

"Oh come on! Of course he deserved it! If you saw what he did to....to Rin....you'd get it." Yukio stood up abruptly, fists clenched. Kinzou reached to take ahold of his hands and the teen sat back down heavily.

Rin's gaze went side and he looked at his little brother. "Yukio, he hurt you too." He said softly. "But you stopped him. You took all of their attention off of me. You and Roco." Yukio's response was quiet.

"Well I'd rather you feel guilty than me being the one to watch that day. I told you, this world is full of trouble. If I have to be a bad guy to keep everyone safe, I will. I said that with the first group and it's the same with everyone here." Rin met everyone's eyes, stern voice not leaving any room for argument.

"I you'll have me, I'll protect you. If you won't, then you'll have to learn to take care of yourselves and I'll leave you with Bon in charge."

"Hell no! We need you!" Shima immediately objected from the driver's seat. "Yeah, you're raising our neice, dude." Kinzou pointed out. "You saved us. We all would've died months ago if you weren't there to gather us into a safe place. As for the bad guy part....we need someone able to play that part." Torako added. "I just like being with you, I literally have no valid reason." Bon shrugged, pulling Rin into his lap. The teen laughed at his boyfriend's antics.

"The valid reason is that once you meet Rin, you can't imagine living without him. It happens to everyone." Yukio snorted. He tried his best to keep his blush down at feeling Kinzou's warm hand take ahold of his.

Rin laid his head on Bond shoulder and Sachi was placed in his lap. She giggled and reached for him. "Papa!"

"Which one, kiddo?" Kinzou wondered. She tilted her head until Kinzou specified. "This one?" He pointed to Rin. "Or this one?" He pointed to Bon. She grinned wide with her tiny little teeth that were growing in and grabbed Rin's hair. He'd taken it down and now he regretted.

He winced and gave a pained smile as she yanked on his hair. "Yes, we get it sweetie, I'm Papa." He gritted out. Bon chuckled and gently untangled her chubby baby hands from Rin's hair.

"How is your hair still perfect?!" Bon gasped. Rin grinned. "Melt the snow, wash your hair with flower petal water. Works great. If I'm gonna have long hair in the Apocalypse, I'm keeping it clean, thank you." He quipped, smiling wide.

Everything was okay.


	23. Twenty-three

They'd made it. They'd made it to Sasebo Naval Base.

They got all of their things from the hua and approached the giant steel gate. It had barbed wire at the top. Rin was about to hand Sachi off to Shiemi and scale said gate when Bon did it himself. He lost his coat to the barbed wire, but made it over and to the control panel. He opened the gate and they walked in. There was no one there. No corpses. Just mysterious bloodstains here and there.

Rin gestured for them to stay there while he went ahead to scout. "What do you think, Sachi? See anything scary?" He whispered. She gurgled in response and he took that as a no, moving further into the base.

Someone grabbed his sword arm from behind and he kicked back, hitting something solid. He'd almost dropped Sachi. She giggled, hanging in Rin's grasp by the front of her coat. He sighed in relief, ducking as he heard air hiss behind another hit. He threw his leg out, swiping it in an arc and bringing the attacker down. A woman groaned on the ground. She was scantily clad and Rin had half a mind to cover Sachi's eyes.

He held his sword point level to her throat and she threw her hands up in surrender. "Wait! I have a group! We can't operate one of those things! We don't have enough people!" She yelped. "And?" Rin raised a brow. Even the _baby_ was glaring at her, damn. "Do you have any people? Besides the little lady?" She wondered. The man hesitated.

"....Yes. You want our groups to operate one together?" He assumed. "Yes! Yes, that's exactly it! Will you? We gotta get out of here! It's–"

"Too small? Yeah, we had the same thought." Another guy walked up behind the first. The first looked a little miffed. "Babe, I told you to wait for a reason!" He threw a glare at the new guy. The guy took the baby away from the first gently. "You can't properly hold someone hostage if you're holding a baby." The guy said with a knowing smile, slipping an axe into the man's other hand. The first couldn't resist smiling and leaned up to peck the other on the lips.

Shura couldn't resist. "Well, there goes the chances of the human race's survival." She joked. The first guy immediately got the joke and laughed loudly as his boyfriend or husband looked confused before understanding dawned on his face.

"What's your name, woman?" The first guy wondered curiously. "Shura. Shura Kirigakure." She answered, chin up in pride. "Huh. Wasn't your ancestor the one who separated herself from the Iga tribes to make her own style of sword fighting?" The second guy recalled. "Yep! And I can tell you, I was taught that style. Works just fine on the dead." She answered, happy someone knew the family history.

"Nice. Where's the rest of your group?" The guy with the two highly dangerous bladed weapons questioned. "Ah, I'll call them if you call yours." She offered. The guy nodded. He whistled, a New York style Taxi-Cab whistle. Five others walked out. Three looked to be teenagers, one looked to be around Shura's age, maybe a few years younger, and then there was an older woman who bore a striking resemblance to one of her captors. Shura called her small group and they all came out.

Before Izumo could flip out, she explained to them the deal.

Everyone introduced themselves. Shura told the newbies where the living quarters were with all the toiletries and showers. Everyone split up to clean up. Meanwhile, she'd get to know that cute Blonde Honey from the other group. Shiemi. That girl was gorgeous!

She showed the girl the showers and helped her wash off under the guise of being patronizing to the new group. Was it perverted? A little. Did she care? No. It was the Apocalypse, this girl was beautiful, and the age gap wasn't that big. No one cared anymore anyways.

§~•~§~•~§

Rin considered the scissors in his hand. He looked at his two-toned hair in the mirror and blew a lock out of his face. Torako was right, he'd need to cut it to avoid trouble with the corpses. He placed the scissors just above where the black started. No more fake. No more hiding.

He began cutting the inky black locks away.

§~•~§~•~§

Shura wolf whistled when Rin walked out to meet them by the ship. His bright white hair was cut to chin length at the top and the sides underneath were shaved, showing the scars from the Zombie Bear where they cut clean through his scalp.

His face was clean of dirt. He'd ripped the sleeves off a white undershirt and donned the blue camo pants and black heavy-duty boots of the Navy.

"Woah, you look younger! Wait, how old are you?" Shura wondered. Rin grinned and she noticed the sharper than usual canines, almost like fangs. "We're gonna be seventeen in December, whenever that is." Yukio answered. "You're what?! I thought you were in your twenties like me!" She cried.

Yukio had kept the sleeves on his white undershirt and sported the same get up as his brother. Bon came out in full uniform. "It's cold and it'll be cold all the way there. Ain't taking any chances." He said when he saw the twins. He'd cut his hair and given himself an undercut. Rin bemoaned the loss of the awesome mohawk and hairstyle and the taller teen laughed.

Torako came out in a full uniform as well with her hair in a bun. She was holding Sachi, who had her own little camo dress made from another uniform.

"Aw, look at you, little scout!" Rin took her from the woman and held her out from him. She giggled and kicked her little feet and Rin laughed, planting a flurry of kisses on her chubby cheeks. Sachi giggled, shrieking "Papa stah! Papa stah!"

Bon laughed too and hugged them both to him, planting a kiss on both their cheeks.

Izumo watched with jealousy. She wished she could've had a family like that. She hoped she could give Tsukumo a family like that. She walked over to them.

"Ah! Sachi, that's Tsukumo. She's gonna be your best friend." Rin pointed to the little girl who waved to the baby. "Say Tsuku. Come on, say Tsuku." Rin coaxed. "Sh...Shu....Shuku." Sachi struggled. "Good job, kiddo, up high!" Bon held his hand up. The baby high-fived him just like Shima had taught her to.

"We gotta teach you the fist bump next, kiddo." Bon mused. "Mmm, I don't know about that. I don't want her thinking hitting people is okay...." Rin frowned. "You're going to train her to take down walking corpses, Rin. It's gonna happen." Bon deadpanned.

"Yeah, but she's only one! Too early!" Rin said defensively holding the baby closer to him and giving a pout to his boyfriend. "Are you sure you guys aren't married yet?" Yukio sighed, walking by. Rin and Bon's faces went red.

Yukio loaded another crate of unperishables onto the ship and Kinzou took it from him, placing it on top of other crates they'd already stacked.

"Is the old married couple bickering again?" The blond smirked. Yukio rolled his eyes. "Honestly, they act like they've been married for years. Sachi only completes that image." Yukio scoffed. "Aw, don't be jealous, Darlin'." Kinzou teased. "Ugh." Yukio turned to walk out and was pulled back by arms around his waist. "Hey!" He couldn't resist laughing as Kinzou placed him on top of the highest crate he could reach. Yukio crossed his legs and put on a smug face. "Bow down to me, peasant."

Kinzou got on one knee, taking his cowboy hat off. He looked like a dork wearing a full military camo uniform and a cowboy hat. "Yes, your highness." He said in a terrible accent. He and Yukio cracked up, their loud laughter echoing around the room.

§~•~§~•~§

For the next few days, they studied the manuals. They slept in the ship so they could get used to it and Rin cooked food in the kitchen. It felt so good to cook real things in a real kitchen.

Konekomeru found paper and pens and pencils around the base and they copied down their parts of the instructions. They also learned a lot about the battleship. It was actually put to rest in the early 2000s, but still fully operational. The U.S. must have made their way here with whatever resources they had to aid Japan before being overrun by the dead. Izumo and Shura told them about the American sailor corpses they'd had to dispatch. The place had been decently empty, so the base must have fallen in the early days of the Apocalypse

Rin explored the USS Wisconsin with wonder. Tons of Americans had manned this ship to fight off enemies and sink other ships. This ship was a part of history, restored to aid Japan in a new chapter of history.

It made him feel important, somehow.

Soon, they'd be operating a whole American battleship. Rin knew that meant that they'd be cooped up in this giant boat for months. It might be summer by the time they got there. It might be next Winter. Because of where Sasebo was located, they were sailing down and around Africa and to the East Coast of America. It would be a long journey.

Rin knew they could operate this thing. But he was afraid to see how much people changed when stuck with the same people for too long with no place to escape.


	24. Twenty-four

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sequel will be up soon guys! I hope you liked this story enough to keep reading!

Finally, they were ready to operate it. Yukio was their engineer, Rin was appointed Commander, exactly the opposite of what he'd wanted. He made Bon his co-commander and Izumo his navigator. Everyone had their parts to play. They each took turns watching the kids. 

Rin didn't want to just raise her as a fighter. He wanted to raise her as his own kid. It was his job to make sure she had a good life in Mamushi's place. He hoped Bon would be in place of Juzo. Maybe it was too soon, but he didn't think he'd want to go anywhere without Bon by his side.

Rin hoped what they had would last through this journey.

Until they made it to America, he'd do his best to keep things steady and keep everyone from being affected too much by the long trip. 

Hopefully, they could pull through.


End file.
